Benjamin Smith

Benjamin Mark Smith (born 27 August 1971) is a Canadian businessman and airline executive. He has been the CEO of Air FranceKLM since 2018. Prior to that, he was Air Canada's President and Chief Operating Officer (COO).

Personal life and education

Benjamin Smith was born on 27 August 1971 in the United Kingdom. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in economics from the University of Western Ontario. He lives in Paris with his family. In 2001, Tango introduced a new commercial model: the subsidiary offered a blend of low-cost and full-service products and services which proved successful.

In 2004, the Tango model was rolled out across Air Canada's entire North American network. The Tango operation was absorbed into the mainline carrier with the brand Tango kept as Air Canada's base fare under the new commercial model developed at Tango.

In 2007, Smith was appointed to the Air Canada executive management team as Chief Commercial Officer, responsible for Network Planning, Revenue Management, Marketing (including brand management, customer experience, and loyalty), Cargo, Alliances, and Global Sales. leading to the development of three global hubs in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. He contributed to the transformation of the airline, including the purchase of a new large fleet of wide-body and narrow-body aircraft. Overall, he led a global network expansion resulting in links to more than 200 destinations on six continents, with a fleet of 350 aircraft.

In 2014, he was the chief negotiator with the airline's pilot and cabin crew unions which resulted in landmark 10-year collective agreements. and Air Canada was awarded the Skytrax Best Airline in North America seven times.

Air FranceKLM The Air France–KLM Group Board of Directors appointed Smith as the new Group's CEO on 16 August 2018, the first non-French chief executive in the company's history.

In 2019, a new agreement with Air France's pilot union removed the fleet size and geographical restrictions on the Group's low-cost subsidiary Transavia. A large fleet order of Airbus A320neos was subsequently placed to embark on an ambitious growth strategy.

Smith successfully navigated the COVID-19 crisis. Billions of euros in stabilizing direct and guaranteed loans by the French and Dutch States were used to ensure the survivability of the Group. The loans have now been fully repaid.

Smith appointed new CEOs at the group's two major subsidiaries which has led to an improvement of synergies.

On 31 March 2022, the Board of Directors of Air France-KLM renewed his contract as CEO for a further five years.

Westjet On 6 September 2023, WestJet appointed Smith as non-executive vice-chair of the Board.

Recognition Smith was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour (France) in July 2023.