Diederik Pen

Diederik joined WestJet in October of 2021 as Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer. Reporting to the President and CEO, Diederik is responsible for daily operations of the airline and oversees many teams including Flight Operations, Inflight, Airports, Technical Operations, General Operations and WestJet Encore.

Diederik has more than 25 years of aviation-industry experience in the Asia-Pacific and European regions and joins WestJet most recently from Wizz Air, a fast-growing, ultra-low-cost business, where he held the position of Executive Vice-President and Group Chief Operations Officer. Diederik was responsible for the company’s significant expansion into the U.K., Central and Western Europe and its startup in the Middle East. Previously, Diederik held leadership roles at Martinair Holland and Virgin Blue Airlines in Australia.

A native of the Netherlands, Diederik holds a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) in Business Economics from the University of Amsterdam.