But he said in a statement that it’s “an important and exciting time” at United where he sees an opportunity to “help accelerate the momentum the airline has achieved over the past year”.
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The president and No. 2 executive at American Airlines has left the company and taken the same job with rival United Airlines. At American, board director John Cahill said in a statement on Monday he looked forward to the “leadership for many years to come” of CEO Doug Parker, 54.
Instead, he will add airline-industry expertise to United’s management.
In a letter to employees, Munoz called Kirby’s hiring the “culmination” of his forming a new leadership team.
Investors have been pushing Munoz to speed up improvement to the airline’s operations 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 US airlines.
Kirby will lead United’s operations, marketing, sales, alliances, network planning and revenue management departments. “The more than 100,000 team members of American Airlines – most notably me – will be forever grateful to Scott”.
Kirby was formerly an executive at America West Airlines and then US Airways when the two merged in 2005. Kirby was named US Airways’ President in 2006, and took the same job with American in 2013.
“As part of that process, and subsequent conversations regarding career expectations and the marketability of its executives, the company concluded it would not be able to retain its existing executive team in their current roles for an extended period”, the carrier said.
American Airlines will replace Kirby with its chief operating officer, Robert Isom.
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Kirby’s severance package includes $3.85 million in cash and $9.3 million in vested stock, according to documents filed Monday.
