Luigi Celmi will be the new chief executive officer of Idair from 1 January 2022. Additionally, Christiane Grude – senior director of Original Equipment Innovation at Lufthansa Technik – joined Idair’s advisory board as of 1 July 2021.
After six years of successfully restructuring Idair’s business and leading it to a new era as a leader in the IFEC segment for VVIP aircraft, Dr Wassef Ayadi has been appointed as senior director of customer relations and sales support services for the business segment Original Equipment & Special Aircraft Services at Lufthansa Technik. He will remain in an advisory role for Idair.
Celmi, of Italian origin, has lived in countries including the USA, France, Singapore, India and now Germany. He has worked in the aviation industry for almost 20 years and holds a Master’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the Polytechnic of Naples in Italy. Before joining Idair he was the CEO of Lufthansa Technik Services India and prior to that he had been the managing director of ATR (an Airbus JV) in Singapore.
“Luigi is a great personality, a strong business leader and I am convinced that with his customer-focused mind and his vast industry experience he is the perfect fit to continue Idair’s success story,” said Grude. “As CEO he will be committed to position Idair in the VVIP market as an innovator of CMS and IFEC solutions and provider of customised software solutions. Moreover, he will build on Idair’s strong reliable existing and new partnerships as well as explore potential business opportunities and new markets.”
“To move to Hamburg to join Idair is a great step and opportunity,” said Celmi. “I’m looking forward to lead Idair and to further develop the newly set paths in the challenge of customising the next generation of ever-evolving entertainment and communications systems. With our international team of VIP aviation experts, software engineers and programme managers we want to offer our customers an exceptional IFEC experience, just like a smart home and office in the sky, to the VVIP market and beyond while expanding Idair’s overall competence.”
Established in April 2011, Idair is celebrating its 10-year anniversary in 2021. It has grown from a start-up and joint venture to being an independent and well-established leading company in IFE, CMS and connectivity solutions.
Idair is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, and has a team of experts spread across the world – in Louisiana and California (USA), Dubai (UAE), and India. Idair develops, manufactures and supplies CMS and IFEC systems for VIP aircraft, as well as custom software services for aircraft applications.
