United Airlines has appointed its third chief executive in little more than six weeks after it named current executive vice president and general counsel, Brett Hart, as acting CEO. He takes over from Oscar Munoz, who was reported on 19 October to have taken medical leave following a heart attack, with no date given for his return.
In early September, Munoz himself took over at the helm of United Continental Holdings, one of the largest airlines in the US, after the resignation of previous chief executive Jeff Smisek. This followed allegations that Smisek started a United flight from Newark to South Carolina because it was convenient to a home owned by the chairman of airport operator, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, David Samson.
Brett Hart has been responsible for government and regulatory affairs, corporate real estate, customer experience, corporate security, community affairs, contact centres and food services. Before joining United in 2010, he was executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary at Sara Lee, partner at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, and special assistant to the general counsel at the US Treasury department.
Brett Hart will work closely with non-executive chairman Henry Meyer to run the company in Munoz's absence. Meyer said Hart had taken on increasing responsibility beyond general counsel over the last few years in operations and customer facing areas, adding: “I am confident in his ability to continue to implement the company's strategy.”
