Luis Gallego Martín is a Spanish engineer and businessman who succeeded Willie Walsh as the chief executive officer (CEO) of

International Airlines Group International Consolidated Airlines Group S.A., trading as International Airlines Group and usually shortened to IAG, is an Anglo-Spanish multinational airline holding company with its registered office in Madrid, Spain, and its global headq ...

in 2020. He is the former CEO of

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

Early life and education

Martín was born and brought up in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

; he originates from

Getafe Getafe () is a municipality and a city in Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 180,747, the region's sixth most populated municipality. Getafe is located 13 km south of Madrid's city centre, within a flat ar ...

, an industrial area of the city. He studied at Colegio La Inmaculada – PP. Escolapios (

Piarists The Piarists (), officially named the Order of Poor Clerics Regular of the Mother of God of the Pious Schools ( la, Ordo Clericorum Regularium pauperum Matris Dei Scholarum Piarum), abbreviated SchP, is a religious order of clerics regular of the ...

) of

, holds a degree in aeronautical engineering from the

Technical University of Madrid The Technical University of Madrid or sometimes called Polytechnic University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, UPM) is a public university, located in Madrid, Spain. It was founded in 1971 as the result of merging different Te ...

and an Executive Development Programme (PDD) qualification from the

IESE Business School IESE Business School is the graduate business school of the University of Navarra. Founded in 1958 in Barcelona where its main campus is located,López, T. & Pampliega, J“La fundación del IESE (1956–1958)” Universidad de Navarra, Bibliotec ...

(

University of Navarra , image = UNAV.svg , latin_name = Universitas Studiorum Navarrensis , established = 17 October 1952 , type = Private, Roman Catholic , chancellor = Fernando Ocáriz Braña , president = María Iraburu Eliz ...

Career

He began his career in the

Spanish Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = Spanish Air and Space Force Anthem , mascot = , anniversaries = 10 December , equipment ...

, and has since worked in Aviaco,

INDRA Indra (; Sanskrit: इन्द्र) is the king of the devas (god-like deities) and Svarga (heaven) in Hindu mythology. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war. volumes/ref> I ...

and, between 1997 and 2006, in several positions with the

franchise partner

Air Nostrum Air Nostrum, legally incorporated as ''Air Nostrum Líneas Aéreas del Mediterráneo, S.A.'', is a Spanish regional airline based in Valencia. It currently operates as a franchisee of Iberia as Iberia Regional and an affiliate member of the On ...

, where he became technical manager of workshop maintenance until his transfer to

Clickair Clickair was a low-cost airline that was based in the ''Parc de Negocis Mas Blau'' in El Prat de Llobregat, near Barcelona, Spain. Clickair flew to nearly 40 destinations in Europe. The airline's main base was Barcelona–El Prat Airport with ...

, prior to its merger with

Vueling Vueling S.A. is a Spanish low-cost airline based at El Prat de Llobregat in Greater Barcelona with hubs at Barcelona–El Prat Airport (main), Paris-Orly Airport in Paris, France and Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport in Rome, Italy (second ...

. At

, he 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. He was CEO of

Iberia Express Iberia Express is a Spanish low-cost airline owned by Iberia, which operates short- and medium-haul routes from its parent airline's hub at Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport, providing feeder flights onto Iberia's long-haul network. Histo ...

from 2012 until he was appointed

's CEO on 27 March 2013. From 1 January 2014 onwards he was also Iberia's chairman. He is also a member of

(IAG)'s management committee, a holding made up of Iberia,

Aer Lingus Aer Lingus ( ; an anglicisation of the Irish , meaning "air fleet" compare Welsh 'llynges awyr') is the flag carrier of Ireland. Founded by the Irish Government, it was privatised between 2006 and 2015 and it is now a wholly owned subsidiary ...

and

British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...

. At Iberia he was for having lead the transformation and modernization process of the airline. In his first year as CEO, he cut the airline's losses by half, while in his second year in office, he was touted as being able to make Iberia profitable after six years of operating losses. He 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 reached a record level and it became one of the world's most punctual airlines. On 9 January 2020 he was set to replace Willie Walsh as CEO of IAG, but it was announced on 16 March that Walsh intended to delay his retirement to help the airline trade through the

outbreak of COVID-19 The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. The date of Walsh's departure was subsequently pushed back to 8 September 2020. The new Iberia CEO became the outgoing chairman and CEO of

, Javier Sánchez-Prieto. In one of his first major acts as CEO of IAG, Gallego replaced the CEO of

Álex Cruz with the CEO of

Sean Doyle. Martín was described by

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

as appearing "keen to make his mark and rebuild bridges with staff".

Personal life

He supports

Real Madrid CF Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally worn ...

and lives with his family in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in his capacity as IAG's CEO.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gallego, Luis Spanish chief executives Iberia (airline) People from Madrid Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Chief executives in the airline industry Technical University of Madrid alumni University of Navarra alumni