Former BCR VP takes over as new CEO of biggest Romanian airline

Blue Air, the biggest Romanian airline by number of carried passengers, appointed Oana Petrescu as its new CEO. She replaces Marius Puiu, who has served as the company’s interim general manager since September 2018.

Oana Petrescu joined the Blue Air team in January 2018 as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and turnaround manager. She has 28 years of experience in finance, IT, and commercial management. In the past, she was partner of audit, risk advisory and consultancy at Arthur Andersen, Ernst & Young, and Deloitte and served as executive president of lender BCR after privatization.

Blue Air aims to become a leading airline in Central and Eastern Europe with a business model based on reducing complexity. “Blue Air has many opportunities and, to increase our commercial and operational performances, we will adopt a business model adapted to the current market – namely Low Cost – Low Complexity,” Oana Petrescu said.

Her appointment as CEO completes a series of changes in the Blue Air management team. The company has a new Chief Commercial Officer – Carsten Schaeffer, who previously worked for Lufthansa and Air Berlin, and a new Chief Financial Officer – Dana Popescu, a former consultant at Arthur Andersen, EY, Bancpost, Erste Group and Vodafone.

Blue Air carried almost 6 million passengers in 2018.

(Photo source: courtesy of the company)