A quick look at what the press is saying about him and the profile is clear: self made entrepreneur, born entrepreneur, clinical eye for business and just fear of crises and paying taxes. Carlos Bertomeu, president of the airline Air Nostrum and, now also, of the railway company that manages the Iryo high-speed trainis (for all this and more) the businessman of the year 2022. This was decided by the jury of the Empresa de l’Any awards, awards organized by EL PERIÓDICO DE CATALUNYA and which until now only distinguished companies, but which from this year and starting with Bertomeu, they will also highlight the Entrepreneur of the Year.
Born in Valencia in 1963, this economist graduated as such from the University of Valencia He has been a finance professor and consultant at the Business Institute; member of the Social Council of the Polytechnic University of Valencia and vice president of the European Association of Regional Airlines (WAS), among others. For example, it was also Director of Investments and Strategic Development of the Nefinsa groupthe position that would change his life.
This business conglomerate owned by the serratosa family founded Air Nostrum in 1994, precisely at the proposal of Bertomeu, who clearly saw the opportunity to build a regional airline in the heat of the liberalization of the market that had just been established by the European Union. Such was his conviction that he was the first CEO of the company and that, years later, he bought a large part of the property from the Serratosas when the ravages of the 2008 financial crisis were unsustainable. Today it is still its main shareholder.
Before the pandemic, this Iberia franchised airline for regional flights, chained five consecutive years of earnings and managed a turnover of 540 million euros. After the passage of covidthe situation became extremely complicated (losses of 140 million euros in 2020, rescue of 111 million from SEPI…), but today, Bertomeu breathes more or less calm and confident, as he told EL at the end of last year NEWSPAPER, in which consumer’s will to live (and travel) can more than recession threat.
arrival at high speed
In any case, Bertomeu has already embarked on his second great adventure, again taking advantage of another important liberalization, that of the rail market. And this has been one of the great achievements of his 2022: getting rolling to the Iryo high-speed train.
“It’s a business started from scratch (…) but it has many parameters similar to aviation,” explains the manager in another interview with EL PERIÓDICO DE CATALUNYA in the context of his appointment as entrepreneur of the year. “I think that Spain’s commitment to being one of the best infrastructure networks in the world and the best in Europe in Ave, requires that there be a very well designed connection of the High Speed train with the plane& rdquor ;, justifies the businessman.
Implication in the economy
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He has planted a seed for it to be so, and today he receives recognition from EL PERIÓDICO for it. Also, in part, because of his involvement in the Spanish economy, because this businessman does not hide his conviction that a company must pay taxes when things are going well. As long as, he says, taxation is not suffocating, as is the case, in his opinion, of the wealth tax.
The awards Company of the Any 2022 will also distinguish tonight Puig group as a great protagonist Catalan West as family businessto Torres Family as the +Sustainable Companyto InBrain as +Innovative Companyto the Agrolimen group as Company +International Yet the ampans foundationas +Inclusive Company.