Air Canada has chosen Anko van der Werff, the chief executive of Scandinavian Airlines, to be its next leader, the carrier said, picking an executive who speaks French for a job where language had become a flashpoint. He is expected to take over in early 2027 from Michael Rousseau, who is stepping down, BNN Bloomberg reported.
Why language mattered here
Air Canada is based in Montreal and operates across a country with two official languages, English and French, and it carries specific obligations to serve customers in both. Language is also a deeply felt matter of identity in French-speaking Quebec, as the Globe and Mail noted. Those expectations extend to the company's leadership, and the airline said its search had explicitly weighed the ability to speak French. In announcing the move, van der Werff addressed employees in French.
The controversy he inherits
The appointment follows a period of friction over the issue under the departing chief executive. Rousseau drew criticism in Quebec after a message to staff following a fatal crash involving an Air Canada regional flight was delivered almost entirely in English, a lapse many found tone-deaf given the moment and the Francophone community affected. He had faced earlier complaints about his use of French as well, including after a Montreal speech years ago. Rousseau later announced he would retire, ending a long tenure at the airline. Newsparlor has not independently verified every detail of those earlier episodes, which have been widely reported in Canadian media.
Who the new CEO is
Van der Werff is a veteran of the airline industry, having led Scandinavian Airlines through a difficult restructuring and held senior roles at carriers in Europe and the Americas. A native of the Netherlands, he speaks several languages, including French, though assessments of his fluency have varied. Supporters point to his experience steering an airline through hard times; the appointment also leaves open the question of how fully he will embody the bilingual expectations that shaped the search.
The bigger picture
The episode is a reminder that in Canada, and especially in Quebec, the language a corporate leader speaks is not a minor detail but a matter of respect and representation, particularly at a national institution like the country's largest airline. By choosing a French-speaking outsider with a turnaround record, Air Canada's board is trying to answer both a business challenge and a cultural one. Whether the choice satisfies critics will depend less on the announcement than on how the airline conducts itself, in both languages, in the years ahead.
