Delta Air Lines chief operating officer Mike Spanos is to
depart the company effective Aug. 31, according to a U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission filing. He is leaving to take a position at another
company, according to a memo Delta CEO Ed Bastian sent to employees Friday
morning, and that the carrier shared with BTN.
The
Wall Street Journal originally reported the story.
Spanos has been in his role just over one year, and his
departure comes about a month after Delta struggled to resume normal operations
after the CrowdStrike
IT outage in July. The carrier, which canceled about 7,000 flights over
five days, has estimated its cost
from the outage at $500 million.
Delta does not currently plan to replace Spanos, who
approached Bastian earlier this summer, prior to the IT outage, to say he was
considering other opportunities, according to the memo. EVP and chief customer
experience officer Allison Ausband and EVP and chief of operations and
president of Delta TechOps John Laughter, who each reported to Spanos, will now
report directly to Bastian.
“Under Mike’s leadership, he has helped to advance Delta’s
performance over the past year, and we continue to lead the industry across all
operating metrics,” Bastian wrote. “Importantly, we’ve seen significant
reductions in injuries during the first half of 2024 versus last year. He also
partnered closely with our finance and commercial teams to improve our asset
utilization and go-forward strategy.”
Spanos
joined Delta June 12, 2023, with no prior aviation background. He previously
was president and CEO of Six Flags entertainment and had spent more than 25
years at PepsiCo and the Pepsi Bottling Group in various positions.
