Virgin Atlantic Cargo has appointed Dominic Kennedy as its new managing director.

Kennedy, currently director of commercial planning at Virgin Atlantic Cargo, will succeed John Lloyd, who has held the post since 2001 and steps down on August 14, 2017 after 30 years with the airline. David Geer, who was due to take up the role, will now become senior vice president of revenue management and digital distribution at Virgin Atlantic.

“Having worked closely alongside John for the last nine years, I am extremely proud to have been given this great opportunity to lead our outstanding cargo team and to ensure that we continue to make a very significant contribution to the success of Virgin Atlantic,” said Kennedy. “We will remain committed to putting our customers at the heart of everything we do in order to maintain their great support as we work as a team to take the business forward.”

Kennedy joined the airline in 2005 and began his career in the fleet and network planning team before moving to cargo in 2008. He has held a number of leadership positions in the Virgin Atlantic Cargo team over the last nine years.

“As an airline we are extremely fortunate to have such a big talent pool and one of our biggest challenges is to always find the right opportunities to enable our best people to progress their careers with us,” said Phil Maher, executive vice president of operations at Virgin Atlantic. “While I am confident David would have been a great asset to our cargo division, the sequence of events since this announcement has created another opportunity where his experience will be even more suited. This also means we are able to give Dominic this well-deserved promotion, knowing he brings a wealth of cargo knowledge and experience to the role having been a key member of our cargo leadership team since 2008.”