Manchester Airports Group (MAG) has swapped around the chief executives at its Manchester and Stansted airports. The group has also appointed a new chief of staff.
From September Stansted Airport CEO Andrew Cowan (pictured) replaces Ken O’Toole as CEO of Manchester Airport, while O’Toole takes on Cowan’s old job at Stansted, where is likely to use his old Ryanair experience to boost the airport’s capacity to a target of 44m a year from the current 35m.
Cowan was previously chief operating officer and managing director at Manchester airport between 2013 and 2015, so knows the area well, having also chaired BITC North West. He has also been group chief executive of Robertson Group, a large construction and support services company and that experience could come in handy as Manchester Airport begins a £1bn programme to build a new terminal and allow the airport to fully use its two full-length runways.
Collette Roche, meanwhile, steps into the chief of staff role at MAG, taking responsibility for strategic development at the group. She is also a board member of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership.
MAG is the country’s largest UK-owned airport operator, and owns Bournemouth and East Midlands airports, in addition to Stansted and Manchester.
