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Carole Coune: At a summit in Leipzig, Transport Ministers from 52 member countries elected Belgian Carole Coune to succeed Irishman Jack Short as Secretary General of the International Transport Forum at OECD. The International Transport Forum is a global platform for transport policy issues. It acts as a think tank for member countries and organises an annual summit, at which ministers debate strategic issues of the sector with business leaders, top academics and representatives of civil society. Ms Coune “earned her stripes” with the Belgian National Railway (SNCB), where, amongst others, she was Secretary to the Management Board and led the Department of International Affairs. After several years experience in the policy cell of the Belgian Minister for Transport and the Minister for Public Transport respectively, she became Director General for Land Transport of the Belgian Ministry of Transport (known as FPS Mobility and Transport) in 2005. In 2008 she became the President of the Management Board of FPS. She holds a law degree from the University of Liège. Her predecessor Jack Short joined the European Conference of Ministers of Transport (ECMT) in 1984 and was Deputy Secretary General from 1993 to 2001, when he became Secretary General. Previously he worked for the Ministries of Transport and Finance in Ireland, as well as in transport research. Mr. Short was educated at University College, Cork, and Trinity College, Dublin, where he obtained Masters Degrees in Mathematics and Statistics.

Donal MacCarron: The death has occurred of Donal MacCarron a well known and established military and aviation historian. From Ennistymon in Co Clare he was educated at the CBS and studied civil engineering and architecture at University College, Dublin. He also lived at Claremont Park, Sandymount and more recently at Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, England. He ran his own consultancy in technical advertising and public relations for thirty years but was a lifelong aviation enthusiast. He is the author of several books, including Landfall Ireland, ‘Wings Over Ireland: The Story of the Irish Air Corps’, and ‘’Step Together!’ The story of Ireland’s Emergency Army’. He is a frequent contributor to international aviation journals and to An Cosantóir, the Irish Defence Journal. He died on 2nd June after a short illness and is survived by his wife Monique, his children John and Michele and his extended family and friends. His funeral took place on 14th June, in Buckinghamshire.

Peter O'Neill and other Aer Lingus cargo appointments: Aer Lingus confirmed a number of new cargo appointments effective 1st June: Peter O'Neill became Director Cargo, Paul Rodwell, Cargo Business Development Manager and Stephen Hunter is to be dedicated to the Shannon Operations Unit within the Cargo Operations Organisation led by Ken Bradshaw. Mr. O'Neill joined Aer Lingus in 1989 and has held a number of key senior management positions on both the Commercial and Operational sides of the business, most recently as T2 Implementation Director. He will additionally lead the sales team directly in close cooperation with the Cargo Management Team on an interim basis pending the appointment of a new Cargo Manager Global Sales to be announced shortly. Finally Remo Hanselmann, the present Director Cargo will as he put it be “moving back home after more than two exciting years in Ireland". Before joining Aer Lingus, Mr. Hanselmann worked as regional cargo manager for Qatar Airways based in Doha/Qatar. He also worked for SwissWorldCargo in Switzerland and in South Africa in various managerial positions.