Dubai’s Emirates announces changes in leadership roles across GCC, Africa, other regions

Dubai carrier Emirates has announced several commercial leadership movements across West Asia, Africa, the GCC, and Central Asia regions.

Six UAE nationals holding leadership roles, will help drive the airline’s commercial initiatives across several markets with the intent to grow its customer base and focus on rebuilding its position, a statement said.

All of the new appointments are effective September 1, 2021.

Jabr Al-Azeeby has been appointed as vice president for Saudi Arabia. Al-Azeeby has been with Emirates for 16 years, previously holding country manager roles in Uganda, Cyprus, Thailand, Pakistan, before taking on his most recent role as vice president, India and Nepal.

Meanwhile, Mohammed Alnahari Alhashmi has been appointed as VP for Pakistan. Alhashmi has held several roles throughout his 18 year career with Emirates, including management posts in Kuwait, Indonesia, Syria, the UAE, and most recently he held the role as vice president for Saudi.

Mohammad Sarhan, who previously held the role of vice president for Pakistan, will now become VP for India and Nepal. Sarhan’s first post with Emirates came in 2009 in Cote d’Ivoire, and since then he’s held several commercial leadership roles in Vietnam, Greece, Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia.

Rashed Alfajeer, manager Morocco, will become country manager Iran. Alfajeer’s stints at Emirates include positions such as commercial manager Sri Lanka, district manager Dammam and the eastern province in Saudi Arabia, as well as country manager Tanzania.

Khalfan Al Salami, country manager Sudan, will now become manager Morocco. Al Salami joined the Emirates commercial management training programme in 2015, and went on to train further in Madrid before taking on a commercial manager role in Kuwait. Since then, he’s held the country manager role in Sudan.

Rashed Salah Al Ansari, will become country manager Sudan. Al Ansari has been with Emirates since 2017, holding various commercial support manager roles in Singapore and Jordan.

Adnan Kazim, chief commercial officer, Emirates Airline, said: “The movements within the commercial team that have been put in place significantly strengthen our management structure across key markets. We’re proud of the hard work and dedication that UAE Nationals appointed to these roles have demonstrated to tackle the challenges of the last 18 months, and today’s announcement demonstrates our commitment to build bench strength from within.”