Anne Rigail was born on the 8th of March. She represents part of the 3% of airline CEOs who are female. Rigail has been working with Air France since 1995 and has worked her way up the company’s corporate ladder.
Training
After school, Rigail graduated from École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris.
Career
Anne Rigail’s career in the aviation industry began when she joined Air Inter in 1991. She remained there until 1996 when she took up the role of head of customer service for Air France at Paris Orly Airport. In 1999, she was promoted to the position of Director of Passenger and Baggage Connections at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport and then promoted again to head of Customer and Baggage Products for Ground Operations at the same airport.
Her next step up Air France’s corporate ladder saw her appointed as head of the Paris-Charles de Gaulle Hub Operations Control Centre in 2005 and this led to her appointment as Vice-President with responsibility for ground operations at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport in 2009.
In 2013, she became Executive Vice-President of In-flight Services, a role which saw her assume responsibility for all of Air France’s cabin crew. And then in 2017, she was appointed Executive Vice-President in charge of customers.
After a board meeting on 12th December, 2018, Rigail took over as CEO of Air France on December 17, 2018.
Anecdotes
When asked about how the Covid 19 crisis would affect Air France, Rigail said: “The recovery will be slow, even very slow. It will take many months to recover. We will be permanently affected, with questions about the change in travelers’ behaviour. “
