Incident costs airline boss his promotion

United Airlines chief executive Oscar Munoz will not automatically become chairman of the company’s board next year as planned, in the latest move by the airline to contain the fallout over a passengerdragging incident at Chicago’ s O’Hare International Airport earlier this month.

In regulatory filings yesterday, the Chicago-based airline said Munoz, whose employment agreement had specified that he would become chairman in 2018, would now leave that decision to the discretion of the board. Munoz initiated the amendment, according to the filing.

United also outlined changes to its 2017 executive compensation programme, tying it more closely to customer satisfaction.

Munoz received more than US$18.7 million in total compensation in 2016, according to the filing, of which US$1.2m was salary.

United and the Chicago Department of Aviation have asked for more time after missing their deadline to respond to a US Senate inquiry into the forcible removal by aviation security officers of Dr David Dao from a Louisville, Kentuckybound flight.

Dao was one of four passengers bumped from a United Express flight to make room for four airline employees, after the airline failed to find volunteers to take a later flight.

Munoz wrote to the committee, reiterating his apologies to Dao and all the passengers aboard the flight who endured the ‘‘appalling’’ incident, which he called a ‘‘humbling learning experience’’. He also asked that the response deadline be pushed back to April 27, to ‘‘ensure accuracy and thoroughness’’ while the airline conducted an internal review.