Oscar Munoz, who recently was named CEO of Chicago-based United Continental Holdings Inc., has been hospitalized.
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Citing their anonymous source, Dow Jones reported that United is waiting to hear from Munoz’s family about the severity of his condition before deciding whether it will need to appoint an interim chief officer.
The carrier in the same statement said its thoughts and prayers at this time were with the Munoz family and they would respect the family’s privacy. The airline says it is continuing to operate normally. Smisek has been one of the targets of a probe into improprieties with the authority that runs airports in the New York area. However, the airline also struggled during his leadership to merge operations of the former Continental and United airlines.
Federal prosecutors are investigating United’s ties to David Samson, the former chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and a political ally of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
Munoz’s health issues are the latest setback for United, the No. 2 US airline in terms of capacity.
United’s failure to promptly disclose Munoz’s admission to a hospital or the reason for it raised concerns about whether the company was disclosing enough to investors.
Shares of United were down by 3.4% during afternoon trading.
“The journey hasn’t always been smooth”, Munoz said in the letter.
Munoz was a railroad executive who had spent 11 years on the boards of Continental and United Continental, which was formed by a 2010 merger of the two airlines.
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The airline posted a statement on its website Friday saying he was taken to a hospital the day before, but provided no other details.
