SINGAPORE - Mr Edmund Cheng Wai Wing, the chairman of Mapletree Investments and the Singapore Art Museum, will take over from Mr Lee Hsien Yang as chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) from July 1.
The Ministry of Transport (MOT), in a press release on Thursday (June 21), said that as part of succession planning, Mr Cheng had been serving as the deputy chairman of CAAS since Dec 1, 2016.
He takes over from Mr Lee, who will be relinquishing the post of chairman on June 30 after nine years.
"Mr Cheng's strong private and public sector board experience will greatly benefit CAAS' mission to grow a safe, vibrant air hub and civil aviation system," said MOT.
Mr Cheng is also the deputy chairman of Wing Tai Holdings and was previously the chairman of Sats from 2003 to 2016, as well as the chairman of the Singapore Tourism Board from 1993 to 2001.
He was also chairman of the National Arts Council and served on the boards of the former Construction Industry Development Board, the Urban and Redevelopment Authority and Singapore Airlines.
He was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal in 2015 and the Public Service Star (Bar) in 2010.
MOT thanked Mr Lee for his many years of dedicated and distinguished service to the CAAS.
"Mr Lee has played an instrumental role in the development of Singapore as an aviation hub," it said. "Today, more than 7,200 flights per week connect Singapore to 400 cities worldwide. Passenger and airfreight traffic have grown by 65 per cent and 15 per cent respectively since 2008."
MOT added that airfreight throughput crossed the 2 million tonne mark for the first time, reaching 2.13 million tonnes, last year.
Mr Lee also helped to build a future-ready aviation hub, MOT said.
Under him, CAAS embarked on several initiatives such as the modernisation of the Aviation Safety regime, the masterplanning for Changi East, the establishment of Singapore as a Centre of Excellence in Air Traffic Management and of a new Unmanned Aerial System regulatory framework.
CAAS has also established a strong and credible voice in regional and international aviation, MOT said.
Mr Lee served nine months as pro-tem chairman prior to the restructuring of CAAS and the corporatisation of Changi Airport on July 1, 2009. Following the corporatisation of Changi Airport, he was appointed the first chairman of the board of the reconstituted CAAS on the same date.
