Mr Kevin Shum Jin-Chyi will be appointed as the Director-General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) with from August 2.
He will take over from Mr Yap Ong Heng who will be retiring from the Administrative Service, according to a media statement from the Ministry of Transport.
Mr Shum, 44, graduated with a Second Class (Upper Honours) in Social Sciences from the National University of Singapore in 1995. He subsequently obtained a Master of International Public Policy from John Hopkins University in 1999.
Mr Shum is currently Deputy Secretary (International) in the Ministry of Transport. Prior to this, he held various key positions, including Director (Comcare & Social Support) in the then-Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, and Director (Social Programmes) in the Ministry of Finance.
In the statement, the ministry thanked Mr Yap Ong Heng, 55, for his contributions as the Director-General of CAAS since 2009.
It said Mr Yap successfully led the restructuring of CAAS after the corporatisation of Changi Airport in 2009, including carrying out the significant task of rebuilding the corporate branding and organisational culture of CAAS to meet its new vision and mission.
To strengthen Singapore's air hub connectivity, Mr Yap led and concluded numerous Air Services Agreement (ASA) negotiations, including the landmark ASEAN-China Air Transport Agreement and further expansion of the bilateral ASA with countries such as Japan, India and Brazil.
He also played a key role in the Changi East development project and implementation of a three-runway system. Mr Yap spearheaded the development and operationalisation of CAAS' third-generation air traffic control system (LORADS III) in October 2013 to ensure that Singapore is able to manage the growing air traffic volumes safely and efficiently as it enters the future.
Under Mr Yap's leadership, CAAS also launched a Centre of Excellence for Air Traffic Management (ATM) that included the setting up of the ATM Research Institute in partnership with Nanyang Technological University as well as the partnership with MITRE establishing MAPS (MITRE Asia-Pacific in Singapore), which is MITRE's first aviation R&D centre outside the United States focusing on ATM research and studies for Singapore and the region.
With Mr Yap's guidance, CAAS implemented several new initiatives for the aviation industry. A notable example was the setting up of the Aviation Development Fund in April 2010 with a budget of $100 million, and subsequently topped up in 2015 to $160 million, to help grow the aviation industry.
On the international arena, Mr Yap led CAAS' efforts to secure the re-election of Singapore into the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organisation for consecutive 3-year terms in 2010 and 2013.
"The Ministry of Transport would like to put on record its appreciation to Mr Yap Ong Heng for his significant contributions in his six years as the Director-General of CAAS," the ministry said in its statement.
chenj@sph.com.sg