From Sky News
The low-cost airline easyJet is in advanced talks to appoint Carolyn McCall, the boss of the company which publishes The Guardian newspaper, as its new chief executive, I have learned.
The appointment of McCall, which will stun both the media and airline industries, is likely to be announced later this week and could come as soon as tomorrow.
McCall, the chief executive of Guardian Media Group, will become a rare thing when she takes up her post: a woman in charge of one of the world’s biggest airlines.
It’s not clear whether McCall has informed the board of GMG yet about her impending move, and I should point out that as with all appointments of this nature, it could still fall over at the last minute.
It will be intriguing to hear the explanation of Sir Mike Rake, easyJet’s chairman, for the recruitment of McCall, since at first glance there are few obvious similarities between the world’s of media and aviation.
I would expect that Sir Mike will point out that both easyJet and GMG are consumer-facing businesses in industries in which the internet is becoming an increasingly important distribution platform.
It’s safe to assume that Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, easyJet’s founder and still the airline’s biggest shareholder, will have approved of the appointment.
If the appointment goes ahead, McCall will be joining easyJet at an intriguing time for the company, which has seen its boardroom buffeted by turbulence during the last couple of years amid disagreements between Sir Stelios and the board over the airline’s strategy.
At GMG, McCall has overseen plenty of corporate restructuring during her years at the helm, including the recent sale of some of its regional newspapers to Trinity Mirror. The appointment of her successor will be intriguing for media observers (excuse the pun on the name of GMG's Sunday newspaper title).
EasyJet declined to comment this evening, while McCall couldn’t be reached for comment.