Mumbai: Wadia Group-promoted, GoAir, has announced the appointment of Edgardo Badiali as the chief executive officer of the company.

It said that Badiali, a senior aviation professional with over 15 years of senior management experience, will report to GoAir managing director Jeh Wadia.

Badiali's earlier assignment was with Italian low- cost airline, MyAir, as its CEO.

Badiali was the co-founder and member of the executive committee of the European Low Fares Airline Association (ELFAA). He has also held various senior positions in leading airlines, including Swiss Air and Jet Airways, the release added.

Badiali's appointment at the helm of GoAir comes at a time when the airline is initiating major expansion plans. The airline has recorded a whopping 73 per cent growth in passenger traffic during the nine-month period ended December of the current fiscal.

It has also crossed a milestone of ferrying over three million passengers.

In the next financial year, GoAir will initiate network expansion plans with the addition of new airports, a company statement said. It said that the Eastern region of the country would be a major area of expansion.

Meanwhile, in October 2007, GoAir took delivery of two of the 20 aircraft it had ordered from Airbus. The order, worth $1.2 billion, was placed in July 2006.

It said that the 2008 deliveries would be aligned to its expansion plans.