How has 2025-26 panned out for aviation CFO hiring, and what else does this year hold?
- Spencer Tarrant
- Mar 3
- 6 min read
Finance & Transformation Principal Spencer Tarrant reviews hiring activity among aviation CFOs over the past twelve or so months, and considers what 2026 might have in store.
2026 is well underway, and I’ve been working on plenty of interesting new projects that I’m really excited about. As the end of the UK financial year approaches, however, I thought now would be a good moment to look back on 2025 (and early 2026) hiring activity among CFOs in one of Venari Partners’ key markets: aviation. I’ve had some time to examine what I believe to be the main recruitment trends, and wanted to consider these with the benefit of hindsight as we continue to look ahead to what this year may bring.
First, though, it bears saying that 2025 wasn’t a recovery year for leadership roles in aviation finance. Rather, we saw airlines realign and CFOs step into the limelight as agents of transformation, storytellers to capital markets, and operators navigating significant complexity. Across search mandates completed across airlines, helicopter operators, and other aviation service providers globally, one theme really stood out: the need for CFOs to act as catalysts of change, rather than merely custodians.
The evolving CFO mandate
Growth was back on the agenda across the sector in 2025. We saw IPO ambitions resurface – particularly in leasing and aftermarket – and various CFO mandates we took on were explicitly tied to value creation. This represented a very different approach to the cost containment I’d witnessed in previous years. It also meant searching for profiles that blended transformation experience with external capital. CFOs were expected to take an active role in financial transformation – as well as manage capital, of course.
M&A and capital strategy
New CFOs across the aviation space had plenty to do in 2025: optimise liquidity, rationalise debt, and still find room for investment. In nearly all of the mandates we handled, capital strategy represented a core aspect of the brief. IPO readiness, M&A preparation, ESG-linked financing, and more were key aspects of our conversations with hiring managers and the job descriptions we saw. For CFOs these days, finding new ways to diversify revenue streams is becoming increasingly important – as long as these align with sustainability targets, that is.
Navigating a more demanding deal environment
One recurring theme in conversations I’ve had with private equity and corporate buyers in 2025 was how the aviation deal environment has changed significantly. Gone are the days when industry assets could be quickly packaged and sold on with minimal scrutiny. Now, buyers are demanding a far more rigorous approach; every element of the business must be optimised from data hygiene to ESG credibility to jurisdictional risk exposure. If it’s not bulletproof, it won’t transact.
The result is clear: it’s a buyer’s market, but a buyer’s market underpinned by deep diligence, cautious underwriting, and increasing regulatory friction. Whether because of cross-border scrutiny, foreign direct investment reviews, or extended antitrust clearances, deals are facing more external drag – and that shifts leverage further toward the buy-side.
Valuations haven’t collapsed, but the frothy premiums of 2021/22 are firmly behind us. In today’s climate, pricing must reflect reality and sellers need to meet the market. For CFOs and boards preparing for any sort of liquidity event, the margin for error is narrowing fast.
Leadership succession and talent gaps
As in many sectors and functions, one pattern we’ve seen when it comes to CFOs in aviation is a shortage of mid-career candidates ready to make the step up; internal talent pipelines are not always adequately developed. Where organisations – particularly mid-sized companies – had no viable successors in place, internal and external planning is usually necessary.
With many businesses we worked with in 2025 gearing up for their next phase, we saw an evolution of what was expected for CFOs. Exit readiness was a particularly important driver; many boards wanted financial leaders who could tell the story externally through a sale, listing, or capital event – and still execute internally. This often meant considering candidates at C-1 level, as well as FP&A leaders, who had commercial experience and solid data knowledge (though in some cases without investor credibility baked in). This is where the most prepared boards were taking a dual-track view: external mapping combined with internal mentoring.
Major moves in 2025 (and Q1 2026)
Some of the most prominent moves in finance leadership across aviation in 2025 included Jan De Raeymaeker joining easyJet as CFO in January; Southwest naming Tom Doxey as CFO in February; and Allegiant promoting BJ Neal to a dual CFO/President role. Meanwhile, Sun Country confirmed Torque Zubeck as CFO and Senior Vice President following leadership changes, while Contour Airlines appointed Liam Mackay to lead its growing finance function. Within the IAG group, José Antonio Barrionuevo was announced as incoming Group CFO (effective June 2026), alongside Gabriel Perdiguero stepping into the CFO/CTO role at British Airways. Joana de Epalza moved to Iberia, meanwhile, amid new appointments at Vueling and Aer Lingus. Gil Feldman ended last year at EL AL with a promotion to CFO, while Veronika Špaňárová joined WizzAir as CFO in February 2026. More recently still, Gonçalo Pires, formerly of TAP, joined Air Astana as CFO on 1 March 2026.
OEM and lessor movements included Jay Malave replacing Brian West at Boeing, and new CFOs at BOC Aviation and Aquila Air Capital. Brendan O’Neill, formerly of CDB Aviation, was also appointed at AviLease in Saudi Arabia in September 2025. In the MRO space, Lufthansa Technik promoted Christian Leifeld, and AAR Corp named Dylan Wolin as CFO following a brief interim period with Sarah Flanagan. AerFin co-founder Steven Ades was promoted to CFO in April 2025, separately, after Matthew Clay stepped down.
Aviation services also saw elevated CFO activity. Swissport appointed Maria Grigorova as its new global CFO to support its capital strategy amid record margin performance. Singapore-based SATS brought in Timothy Tang during a critical integration period post-acquisition of WFS. In the helicopter sector, CHC Helicopter appointed Neil Gilchrist as CFO, while Avincis welcomed Malachy McEnroe into the Group CFO role to support its leadership evolution and long-term planning. CAE rang in 2026 with a strategic appointment in simulation and training, naming Ryan McLeod as CFO with a clear M&A and capital-facing brief.
Regional variations and what they signalled
With a shift toward strategically agile financial leadership in the aviation industry in 2025, we saw succession planning, internal promotions, and external credibility emerge as key themes. How these manifested differed, broadly speaking, from one region or market to another. While the importance of transformation, growth, and commercial strategy are constant and borderless, other variations such as political pressure, ownership models, and regulatory complexity meant that what shaped hiring strategy in one territory was not necessarily front of mind for boards in another.
In North America, for instance, we saw capital-markets credibility emerge as the most consistent ask. ESG regulation was another important factor in this region – though to a lesser degree than in Europe, where we saw mandates asking for CFOs who could interpret evolving CSRD frameworks, build ESG into capital strategy, and still deliver cost efficiency amid tight post-pandemic margins. There was also greater post-Brexit uncertainty in finance leadership; regulatory divergence and structural complexity made multi-jurisdictional fluency a must-have.
In the Middle East, meanwhile, scale and state alignment were central dynamics, with CFOs acting as growth architects overseeing significant, complicated strategic restructuring. This chimed with the overarching themes in the Asia-Pacific aviation sector, albeit from the point of view of navigating legacy reshuffles.
The outlook for 2026
The emphasis on strategy and growth looks set to continue for aviation CFOs this year. Capital planning, ESG governance, digital forecasting, scenario modelling you name it – the scope of the role is only growing. Taking in operations, investor relations, and more, it’s a fascinating time to work as a finance leader in this fascinating sector. How to balance competing demands, from boosting to digital finance while leading on ESG policy – to say nothing of managing succession, internal talent pathways, and growth – is not a task for the faint-hearted, but one that will reward professionals with the vision and determination to define what the aviation CFO of the future looks like.
