About

The go-to advisor for the CEOs and boards of the Air Arabia Group companies on laws, regulations and public policy, ethics and risk, Osama Romeih plays a central role in the organisation of the major UAE-based airline, instructing and managing Air Arabia’s hubs in Egypt and Morocco in addition to its domestic bases. He has a vast knowledge of Air Arabia, having first joined its legal department in 2010, and draws upon a diverse skillset to advise the company, having achieved commercial and financial qualifications in addition to his legal ones. He reports that this allows him to make ‘the correct – but sometimes tough – decisions when participating in leadership discussions of complex problems’. He has revolutionised the legal team underneath him as well, reducing internal costs and external legal spend while improving capabilities through the standardisation of documentation and increasing awareness of the team among the company; all of this has been achieved while succeeding in finalising a number of acquisitions and joint venture agreements. Romeih believes that in-house lawyers should ‘know the business of their companies and start thinking and acting as CEOs’ in order to provide the most to their businesses. ‘If they follow this rule, they will achieve their goals and will get the higher management positions in their companies easily’, he says.