Delta Air Lines CEO to leave airline
Delta Air Lines said Friday that Mike Spanos, its chief executive, will leave the airline for a new job at the end of August.
In a memo to employees seen by TPG, airline CEO Ed Bastian said Spanos said earlier this summer that he was exploring other opportunities.
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The departure comes just weeks after Delta More than 7,000 flights canceled between one major technology incident affected airlines around the world, including rivals American Airlines and United Airlines. Unlike other airlines, Delta struggled to get back on track after the outage was resolved and continued to cancel flights for days. The airline said used the affected system, CrowdStrikein more internal systems and processes than other carriers.
A Delta spokesperson said Spanos began discussing his departure before the tech crisis in July. He has been in the role since 2023 and has no prior experience in the airline industry. Spanos will receive benefits under the airline’s severance plan for officers and directors, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday morning.
Bastian previously told The Wall Street Journal, which first reported Spanos’ departure, that despite his role as chief operating officer, Spanos was not the one directing Delta’s response to the outage.
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“He’s not someone we trust to make decisions,” Bastian told The Wall Street Journal in an interview earlier this month, noting that Spanos is “new to the industry.”
Delta has no plans to replace Spanos, Bastian said in a memo Friday. Instead, two senior executives who previously reported to Spanos will report directly to the CEO: John Laughter, who oversees various areas of operations such as flights, maintenance and pilot personnel, and Allison Ausband, the airline’s head of customer experience.
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