Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) has added new leaders to its executive and cargo teams who will help with efforts for a financial turnaround in 2021.
The Atlanta-based carrier on Thursday reported a $2.1 billion pre-tax loss in the fourth quarter. It had an adjusted loss of $9 billion for 2020.
Jannie Davel this week was named managing director-commercial, and Vishal Bhatnagar was promoted to managing director-global cargo operations.
Davel leads cargo commercial activities, including sales, alliances and product management. He has held leadership positions at DHL Global Forwarding and Emirates SkyCargo, and most recently served as senior vice president at Global Feeder Services, a specialized all-cargo company that operates 15 freighters globally.
Bhatnagar most recently was director, cargo operations performance and customer experience. Since joining the airline in 2017, he has played a key role in standing up Delta’s Cargo Control Center and built numerous key business functions focused on expanding services, as well as improving customer service and operations.
Prior to joining Delta Cargo, Bhatnagar led North and South America operations for Lufthansa Cargo.
Separately, the airline announced the hiring of Alain Bellemare as president of international and Michelle Horn as chief strategy officer.
Bellemare, 59, will lead Delta’s portfolio of international investments, such as the ownership stake in LATAM Airlines. He retired last year as CEO of Toronto-based aircraft manufacturer Bombardier. During his time there, he led the company through an extensive transformation that included the certification of the C Series, now known as the Airbus A220, and the Global 7500 business jet.
Before joining Bombardier, Bellemare spent 18 years with United Technologies Corp., serving as president and CEO of UTC Propulsion & Aerospace Systems. In that role, he led Pratt Whitney, as well as the acquisition of Goodrich, with its integration into Hamilton Sundstrand. For the past year, Bellemare has served as a senior adviser with the Carlyle Group, focused on the aerospace, defense and government sectors.
Horn, a native of Colombia, joins Delta from SoftBank, where she focused on scaling companies the bank invested in. She previously spent two decades as a partner at management consultant McKinsey. She will be in charge of identifying new business opportunities and planning for contingencies and pushing high-priority initiatives across the enterprise.
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