Airline vet to lead Amtrak makeover

WASHINGTON — A decade after setting Delta Air Lines on a post-bankruptcy resurgence, the airline’s former chairman and chief executive is taking on another transportation challenge: Amtrak.

The railroad named Richard Anderson as its top executive, putting a leader known for innovation and customer service in charge of a government operation struggling to keep up with congestion and crumbling infrastructure.

Anderson, a former Texas prosecutor, gained a reputation among Delta’s rivals as brash and unrelenting, but he won employees’ hearts with policies that encouraged them to speak up and challenge leadership’s mistakes.

When Anderson left Delta in 2016, the airline posted an 18 percent operatingmargin, better than American Airlines andUnited Airlines.

“Richard understands the basics of what is necessary to serve customers well,” Amtrakboardchairman Tony Coscia said. “That’s something Amtrak will benefit from.”

Anderson takes over as president on July 12 and will share CEO duties with current boss Charles Moorman untilMoorman moves to an advisory role at the end of the year.

Neither is drawing salary, Coscia said.

Anderson was CEO of Northwest Airlines from 2001 to 2004 and CEO of Delta from 2007 to 2016, taking charge of the Atlantacarrier as it emerged frombankruptcy and an industry-wide downturn after Sept. 11.