Luis Gallego (businessman)

Luis Gallego in 2015.

Luis Gallego holds a degree in aeronautical engineering from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and an Executive Development Programme (EDD) qualification from the IESE School of Business.He began his career in the Spanish Air Force, and has since worked in Aviaco, INDRA and, between 1997 and 2006,in several positions with the Iberia franchise partner Air Nostrum, where he became technical manager of workshop maintenance until his transfer to Clickair, prior to its merger with Vueling.

At Vueling, Luis Gallego held the post of production manager, with responsibility for flight operations, training, quality, safety, maintenance, and ground operations. With a total of 47 aircraft and more than 1,600 employees under his command, he and his team achieved the highest ratings for punctuality, regularity, and customer satisfaction of any Spanish airline.

Luis Gallego was CEO of Iberia Express from 2012 until he was appointed Iberia’s CEO on the 27th of March 2013. Since the 1st of January 2014, he is also Iberia’s Chairman. He is also member of IAG’s Management Committee, a holding made up of Iberia, Vueling and British Airways.

In Iberia, Luis Gallego is leading the transformation and modernization process of the Spanish airline. In his first year as CEO year, he was able to cut the airline’s losses by half, while in his second year in office, he’ll be able to make Iberia profitable after six years of operating losses. Additionally, he has reached labour agreements with all Iberia’s staff groups to reduce labour costs and increase employees’ productivity. Since then, Iberia’s quality and recommendation indexes of the airline’s customers have reached a record level and the airline has become one of the world’s most punctual airlines.