United Airlines names a president
CHICAGO — United Airlines hired the No. 2 executive at its chief competitor on Monday.
Scott Kirby, 49, president of American Airlines since its merger with US Airways in 2013, will fill a newly created role as president, responsible for United’s operations, marketing, sales, alliances, network planning and revenue management, the Chicagobased airline said.
The carrier has a major hub in Houston.
In a letter to employees, United CEO Oscar Munoz said adding the new position would let him “sharpen my own focus as CEO on the core mission of driving United’s overall strategy, business innovation and financial performance.”
Munoz, brought in as CEO last year to turn the airline around, has reached several new labor agreements with employee groups and improved the airline’s on-time performance, but said earlier this year that United’s financial performance still lags behind other major U.S. airlines.
A key measure of passenger revenue was down 6.6 percent in the second quarter of 2016 compared with the same period last year.
Earlier this summer, Munoz announced a combination of cost cuts and new revenues totaling $3.1 billion between 2015 and 2018.
“Scott is a proven leader, whose deep airline experience and expertise will further accelerate our efforts to build the best airline in
the industry,” Munoz said in a news release.
“Scott’s appointment, along with other recent leadership announcements, is the culmination of the formation of my senior leadership team. This is just the latest step in our mission to be an agile and innovative industry leader,” Munoz said.
Kirby’s appointment follows two management changes earlier this month, when Munoz made former Allegiant Travel President Andrew Levy United’s new chief financial officer and former Boston Consulting Group partner Julia Haywood the airline’s chief commercial officer.
Fort Worth-based American Airlines promoted its chief operating officer, Robert Isom, 52, to fill Kirby’s spot, American said in a news release on Monday.