Gatwick’s Embleton replaces departing Crawley at IAG Cargo

A little over a year after taking charge of IAG Cargo and embarking on several modernization initiatives, Drew Crawley announced today that he is stepping down from the CEO position to become head of Avios, the loyalty program for parent company IAG Group. In his place, IAG Group has appointed Lynne Embleton, formerly the managing director of British Airways at the U.K.’s Gatwick Airport, as the new CEO, effective immediately.

Embleton has had limited experience with cargo, serving on the IAG Cargo board as a non-executive director over a four-year period. However, she has been in the airline industry for more than 25 years with British Airways in various roles, including a nearly six-year stint as director of strategy for the carrier.

“Lynne’s extensive experience across Group strategy as well as on the IAG Cargo board will be invaluable in the continued growth of our cargo business,” said Willie Walsh, CEO of IAG Group, to whom Embleton will report directly as a member of the IAG Management Committee. Her years working on strategy, he added, “provide her with an excellent understanding of the challenges that face the cargo industry.”

Embleton steps in after an eventful but short tenure by Crawley, who had plans to revamp IAG’s cargo operations and reach out to more independent freight forwarders and accelerate the move to electronic air waybills. Since his appointment in January 2016, he also made efforts to improve the customer interface on the IAG Cargo website and joined IATA’s CargoiQ group to help improve quality standards and upgrade the IT system.

Crawley will remain a member of the IAG Management Committee, and will continue to report directly to IAG CEO Walsh.