Top Delta executive steps down weeks after airline slow to respond to technical outage
Delta Air Lines announced Friday that its chief operating officer will leave the company next week, after just over a year in the airline industry, to take another position.
Michael Spanos’ departure comes weeks after Delta canceled thousands of flights for a failed recovery of a global technological failure,
Spanos spent most of his career at PepsiCo and the Pepsi Bottling Group and was CEO of amusement park operator Six Flags Entertainment before joining Delta in June 2023. He is one of three executive vice presidents at the company. Atlanta-based airline.
In a regulatory filingDelta gave no reason for Spanos’ departure, but said only that he would receive the severance benefits he is entitled to under the company’s plan for executives and directors. Spanos received compensation valued at $8.6 million last year, mostly in the form of stock awards.
CEO Ed Bastian said in a memo to employees that Spanos told him “earlier this summer” that he was considering leaving Delta. A spokesperson said that happened before the technology outage.
Bastian wrote that Spanos would join another company in September, which he did not identify by name. The CEO credited Spanos with improving Delta’s performance, and added that Delta would not appoint a new chief operating officer.
COOs typically run the day-to-day operations of a company and report directly to the CEO. They are often considered second-tier executives, but at Delta, it is usually President Glen Hauenstein who plays that role.
Delta was hit harder than any other U.S. carrier by last month’s technology outage, which began with a faulty upgrade from cybersecurity software provider CrowdStrike to computers running Microsoft Windows.
Other airlines recovered within days, but Delta canceled about 7,000 flights over five days as it worked to reposition crews and match them to planes.
The United States Department of Transportation is merger investigationand Delta continues $500 million in damages from CrowdStrike and Microsoft. The tech companies say Delta refused help and made misleading claims.
