WestJet has hired three new vice presidents to the senior leadership team as the Canadian LCC prepares for expansion.

Gandeephan Ganeshalingam was named VP-lean and continuous improvement; Stuart McDonald as VP & chief technology officer; and Scott Groh as VP-crew resources.

WestJet president & CEO Gregg Saretsky said, “As we continue on our path to becoming a global, full-service carrier, the additional bench strength provided by our newest leaders is key to this exciting initiative.”

Gandeephan joins WestJet Feb. 19 from GE Canada, where he most recently served as chief innovation officer. There, he supported WestJet on several initiatives including an artificial intelligence project to improve dispatch reliability for WestJet’s Boeing 767s. 

McDonald, who joins WestJet Jan. 29, most recently served as VP-strategic Initiatives, and VP-employee enablement at TD Bank. Prior to his time at TD, Stuart held leadership roles in the technology and telecom industries in Hong Kong and Australia, including two years with Cathay Pacific as head of enterprise programs. He plans to work with WestJet to build out the global technology footprint needed to meet the Calgary-based airline’s expansion plans.

Groh joined WestJet Jan. 3 and most recently worked for Qatar Airways as SVP-crew resources, flight operations. Scott also held the position of VP-crew resources for Etihad Airways for nine years and has more than 30 years of experience in crew planning, and crew scheduling operations. Scott’s experience with a complex fleet mix and schedule network involving more than 200 aircraft, 3,500 pilots, and 11,000 cabin crew members with full-service global airlines will help WestJet prepare for the challenges and opportunities of deploying its Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet and global network plans.

Linda Blachly linda.blachly@informa.com