All Nippon Airways Co. said Wednesday that Senior Executive Vice President Yoji Ohashi, 61, will be promoted to president on April 1.
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| Yoji Ohashi |
President Kichisaburo Nomura will take the post of chairman, which is vacant, the airline said.
During a news conference Wednesday, Nomura, 66, who led Japan's No. 2 airline for nearly three years, said he is paving the way for a younger generation of management at the start of a new fiscal year.
The top-level change comes just as ANA is expected to post record-high profits in fiscal 2000, which ends March 31, following three years of consolidated net losses.
Nomura became president in June 1997 following turmoil caused by fierce factional conflicts among top executives.
Nomura also said ANA may install a chief operating officer system in top management.
But he did not clarify whether he or Ohashi would take the post, saying they would manage the company by "complementing each other."
A traditional Japanese corporation does not have management positions corresponding to CEO or COO, because the president -- the top executive -- mainly handles internal matters and the chairman often deals with external matters, such as activities in business circles.