Virgin Atlantic Chief Executive appointed Chairman of the Association of European Airlines

Steve Ridgway takes up the chairmanship of the association of 36 leading European airlines this week and will focus its efforts on strengthening its members' international competitiveness.

Steve Ridgway said: "Aviation has a fundamental part to play in the recovery of the global economy and in connecting communities across the world. We must work together with national governments and EU institutions to ensure that we have the right conditions for European airlines to be competitive and flourish on the world stage".

"In the next twelve months I would hope to see Europe focus on progressing the delivery of one single air traffic management system for Europe that is efficient. It is also vital to keep innovating and investing in lower carbon technologies to reduce aviation's dependency on fossil fuels".

This week the AEA also welcomed Air Berlin to the association as its 36th member.

Steve Ridgway said that the arrival of Air Berlin would strengthen the AEA membership: "Like Virgin Atlantic, Air Berlin is not a traditional 'national airline' and has had to innovate in the face of strong home country competition. We now have a broad range of airlines in the association and I believe that this group can prove to be the catalyst in focusing the aviation sector on the key issues that impact on all airlines".

With the new addition of Air Berlin the AEA members now fly 380 million passengers annually and transport over seven million tonnes of cargo.

Steve Ridgway becomes the second consecutive UK CEO to chair the AEA following Willie Walsh's leadership in 2010. Steve Ridgway joined Virgin Atlantic in 1989 and was appointed CEO of the long haul airline in 2001.