China Airlines appoints company veteran as new president

China Airlines has promoted Shing-Hwang Kao, a company veteran of over 35 years, to become its new president. Kao, who was previously a senior vice president at the Taipei-based carrier, will assume his new position effective immediately, taking over from current acting president Su-Chien Hsieh, who is also the airline’s chairman. He started at the carrier in 1986 as a flight attendant, before training to be a pilot, where he rose to the position of instructor. In 2003, Kao, who is trained to fly the Airbus A300, A330, A340 and the Boeing 747-400, joined China Airlines’ management team, first as assistant chief pilot and chief pilot, before joining the airline’s flight operations department. Kao, who has a degree in transportation management, also held management positions in other divisions such as finance, corporate safety, as well as cabin crew management.<br/>