The current CEO of United Airlines will leave step down from his in 2020. Oscar Munoz became the CEO and president of the third-largest airline in the world in September 2015. However, in 2016, Stott Kirby became the president of United Airlines. Moreover, from Spring 2020, Kirby will replace Munoz as CEO of United. The company made this announcement on Thursday. This news helped to boost the premarket share price of United by 1%.
Moreover, Munoz won’t leave the company, as Untied decided to make him the next chairman of the company. Current, chairman Jane Garvey plans to retire from the board.
It means that speculations are over, and Kirby would not become the next CEO of American Airlines. It is worth mentioning that shares of American Airlines fell by 26% in 2018. Kirby worked with Parker for a decade when America West merged with U.S. Air. This company later merged with American Airlines.
It is important to remember that American is the largest airline not only in the U.S. but around the globe.
Wall Street and the aviation industry
For the last several years, Scott Kirby made numerous decisions. For example, he changed the strategy regarding the smaller cities.
United added flights from secondary cities to major hubs. This move had a positive impact as traffic through centers started to grow, which helped to boost the profit.
As a result, the net profit rose from $2.1 billion in 2017 to $2.5 billion in 2018. Moreover, this year’s net profit already reached $2.3 billion after the third quarter. Correspondingly, the company raised its full-year earnings guidance in October.
The company said the board, as well as Munoz, felt it was time to initiate the process of a smooth transition to the next CEO.
Last but not least, this move is one of the decisions anticipated by the airline industry and Wall Street.
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