Air Canada names French-speaking CEO after backlash over condolence video

Air Canada chose Anko Van der Werff, the French-speaking chief executive of Scandinavian Airlines, to become its next president and chief executive officer by the end of January 2027, a move that directly answers months of criticism over the company’s handling of a deadly crash and its place in bilingual Canada. Michael Rousseau will retire effective August 31, 2026, and remain available during the transition.

The airline said its board ran a comprehensive global search and made French-language ability a formal criterion, a clear signal that language fluency was treated as part of the job at a company headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. Van der Werff brings more than 25 years of international aviation leadership experience, including senior roles at SAS, Avianca Group, Aeroméxico, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Qatar Airways, and Air Canada said he is excited to relocate to Montréal.

The succession lands after the backlash that engulfed Rousseau in March, when Air Canada Flight 8646 collided with a fire truck while landing at New York’s LaGuardia Airport on March 22, killing both pilots, Capt. Antoine Forest and first officer Mackenzie Gunther, and injuring dozens of others. Forest was a francophone from Coteau-du-Lac, Quebec, a detail that intensified criticism in French-speaking Canada after Rousseau delivered a four-minute condolence video mostly in English, with only brief French greetings.

The message quickly became a test of corporate legitimacy in Quebec and beyond. Prime Minister Mark Carney said bilingual communication was essential for Air Canada, and Quebec’s legislature passed a motion calling for Rousseau’s resignation. The episode also revived earlier criticism of Rousseau’s language choices, including complaints in 2021 after he spoke mostly English at a Montreal business event.

Rousseau had already announced in March that he planned to retire after 19 years with Air Canada, but the timing and the choice of successor now carry a sharper political weight. By elevating a French-speaking executive and making language part of the selection process, Air Canada is trying to reset relations with Quebec, where language is not just a workplace skill but a marker of respect for one of Canada’s two official languages.