Newsmaker: BA Exec Joins Jet Set

British Airways senior vice president of commercial in North America Woody Harford plans to leave the carrier in September to join Cessna-owned fractional jet ownership and jet card membership provider CitationShares.

"We're looking to get pretty aggressive into the corporate business," Harford said of his transition to CitationShares.

Harford's departure will be the second shake-up at the top of British Airways' Americas team. British Airways earlier this month announced the appointment of Simon Talling-Smith as executive vice president of the Americas, replacing Robin Hayes, who left the company to become JetBlue Airways' executive vice president and chief commercial officer.

Harford said he would work with Talling-Smith to "figure out what the appropriate organizational structure might look like and what kind of appointments process we might want to conduct" to fill Harford's position.

Talling-Smith, meanwhile, settled into his new role in August, after holding several senior management commercial and operational roles since joining British Airways in 1991, most recently heading the carrier's cabin crew and catering services.

"With Simon's wealth of experience, he is the ideal candidate to take charge of our operation in our largest overseas market," BA commercial director Robert Boyle said in a statement.