Global Crossing Airlines Appoints Laurie Villa as Chief People Officer


MIAMI, Oct. 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Global Crossing Airlines Group Inc. (Cboe CA: JET, Cboe CA: JET.B, OTCQB: JETMF) (the “Company” or “GlobalX”), the Nation's fastest growing charter airline, today announced the appointment of Laurie Villa as Chief People Officer, effective immediately. Reporting to GlobalX President and CFO, Ryan Goepel, Mrs. Villa will be responsible for leading the Company’s Human Capital Management functions, strengthening GlobalX’s culture and driving engagement across the airline. She joins GlobalX at a critical phase of its growth to recruit, develop and retain talent, implement competitive and compelling compensation and benefit plans, support crew and team member relations, drive performance management, and lead a values-based culture.

Prior to joining GlobalX, Mrs. Villa served as Chief People Officer for JetBlue Airlines for three years and Chief Human Resources Officer of Spirit Airlines for six and half years. Additionally, over the last ten years, she has served as an advisory board member of Primate Technologies, a technology and software company focused on the energy industry.

“I am excited to welcome Laurie to our leadership team during this incredible growth phase at GlobalX,” said Ryan Goepel, President and CFO of GlobalX. “In just three short years, we’ve expanded our fleet to 18 aircraft and built a remarkable team of over 750 dedicated professionals. As we continue our rapid growth, Laurie will play a vital role in attracting, nurturing, and developing our GlobalX talent across all operations.”

"The Board of Directors is pleased to announce this high-profile addition to our talented executive management lineup,” said Chris Jamroz, Executive Chairman of GlobalX. “Laurie’s extensive industry expertise and exceptional talents will be pivotal in propelling our organization to new heights of success."

With more than 30 years of global leadership experience in both large-scale and start-up organizations, Mrs. Villa has developed successful people, talent and succession strategies to support long-term business objectives in a number of industries, including consumer goods, specialty retail, education, and technology. In addition to her airline roles, Mrs. Villa has held senior leadership positions at Ann Taylor Corporation, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, Charter Schools USA and Sara Lee Corporation. Mrs. Villa is a graduate of the University of North Florida, where she received both a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Business Administration.

About Global Crossing Airlines

GlobalX is a US 121 domestic flag and supplemental airline flying the Airbus A320 family of aircraft. The Company’s services include domestic and international ACMI and charter flights for passengers and cargo throughout the US, Caribbean, Europe, and Latin America. GlobalX is IOSA certified by IATA and holds TCO’s for Europe and the UK.

For more information:

Company Contact

Ryan Goepel, President & CFO
Tel: (720) 330-2829

Investor Relations Contact

Sean Mansouri, CFA or Aaron D’Souza
Email: JET@elevate-ir.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains certain “forward looking statements” and “forward-looking information”, as defined under applicable United States and Canadian securities laws, concerning anticipated developments and events that may occur in the future. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the Company’s status as the nation’s fastest growing charter airline, the expected contributions of Ms. Villa to the Company, statements regarding the Company’s culture, the Company’s aircraft fleet size, the destinations that the Company intends to service and the Company’s growth plans.

In certain cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" suggesting future outcomes, or other expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions, intentions or statements about future events or performance. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release is based on certain factors and assumptions regarding, among other things, the receipt of financing to continue airline operations, the accuracy, reliability and success of GlobalX’s business model; GlobalX’s ability to accurately forecast demand; GlobalX will be able to successfully conclude definitive agreements for transactions subject to LOI; the timely receipt of governmental approvals; the success of airline operations of GlobalX; GlobalX’s ability to successfully enter new geographic markets; the legislative and regulatory environments of the jurisdictions where GlobalX will carry on business or have operations; the Company has or will have sufficient aircraft to provide the service; the impact of competition and the competitive response to GlobalX’s business strategy; the future price of fuel, and the availability of aircraft. While the Company considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to it, they may prove to be incorrect.

Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include risks related to, the ability to obtain financing at acceptable terms, the impact of general economic conditions, risks related to supply chain and labor disruptions, failure to retain or obtain sufficient aircraft, domestic and international airline industry conditions, failure to conclude definitive agreements for transactions subject to LOI, the effects of increased competition from our market competitors and new market entrants, passenger demand being less than anticipated, the impact of the global uncertainty created by any resurgence of COVID-19, future relations with shareholders, volatility of fuel prices, increases in operating costs, terrorism, pandemics, natural disasters, currency fluctuations, interest rates, risks specific to the airline industry, risks associated with doing business in foreign countries, the ability of management to implement GlobalX’s operational strategy, the ability to attract qualified management and staff, labor disputes, regulatory risks, including risks relating to the acquisition of the necessary licenses and permits; risks related to significant disruption in, or breach in security of GlobalX’s information technology systems and resultant interruptions in service and any related impact on its reputation; and the additional risks identified in the "Risk Factors" section of the Company's reports and filings with applicable Canadian securities regulators and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements. If GlobalX does update one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be made that it will make additional updates with respect to those or other forward-looking statements.