American Airlines’ president is taking over a rival airline.
American’s president, Scott Kirby, will become United Airline’s president “effective immediately,” the airlines said Monday.
United said he will take over “operations, marketing, sales, alliances, network planning and revenue management” at the airline.
In a letter to employees, United CEO Oscar Munoz said that “will allow me to sharpen my own focus as CEO on the core mission of driving United’s overall strategy, business innovation and financial performance.”
Kirby, 49, has also had stint as the president of US Airways before it merged with American Airlines, and he has worked for American for more than a decade. He became its president in 2013. He’ll hold the same title at United Airlines in a role the company said it created for Kirby.
Doug Parker, American’s CEO, said Kirby will leave under a “transition and separation agreement” and receive $3.85 million in severance.
In a letter to employees Parker said, “Other organizations have been aggressively attempting to recruit from our ranks” and the company’s board “chose to act proactively to establish a team and structure that will best serve American for the longer-term future.”
Kirby said in a statement that it’s “an important and exciting time” at United where he sees an opportunity to “help accelerate the momentum the airline has achieved over the past year.”
Munoz took over in September 2015 after the company’s previous CEO Jeff Smisek was embroiled in scandal over allegedly manipulating flight routes for a public official in return for improvements at Newark Airport that United wanted. Despite suffering a heart attack in October just a few weeks after taking over that role and undergoing a heart transplant in January 2016, Munoz has been at work most of 2016 looking to turn around the airline’s performance.
The latest Airline Quality Rating report — which measures factors such as on-time performance, overbookings and consumer complaints — suggested it’s paying off. United Airlines landed in 8th place, climbing up from 9th the previous year. American Airlines fell from 7th to 10th place.
American Airlines will replace Kirby with its chief operating officer, Robert Isom.
