Skymark Airlines Co. said Tuesday that President Takashi Ide has been replaced by Masayuki Inoue, formerly of British Airways, as part of a shakeup at the executive level.
Inoue, 41, who began working at British Airways in 1989, joined the Japanese budget airline in May 2002 and has been vice president of the marketing and sales division since November.
Ide, 49, stepped down to the post of director and vice chairman after serving a four-year term.
Representative Director and Chairman Hideo Sawada, 51, dropped the representative position and became director and chairman. Sawada will remain president of travel agency H.I.S. Co., which is the airline's parent company.
At a news conference, Inoue pledged to get the company's operations back into the black on a single fiscal year basis.
Skymark Airlines has been continuously in the red since its establishment in 1996, but aims to turn a profit in 2003 under the new president.