United Airlines has announced Brett Hart will become its president effective from 20 May 2020.
Brett Hart is the current executive vice president and chief administrative officer at United. He has served at United since 2010. He will take on the president role as current president Scott Kirby moves to take over as CEO from departing Oscar Munoz.
“I am honoured and energised as I take on these new responsibilities to lead this incredible team that I am convinced will build United into a thriving industry leader. The path forward will not be easy, but I am confident that Scott and I will continue our partnership to lead United through the extraordinary challenge posed by COVID-19. United’s bright future is only possible because of the commitment of the most talented airline professionals in the world who serve United and our customers every single day – and I could not be prouder of them,” said Hart.
Hart’s new role will see him continue to lead the airline’s public advocacy strategy. Under him will be the government affairs, corporate communications, legal, and community engagement teams. In addition, he will also maintain his oversight of the corporate real estate team and United’s environmental sustainability efforts. New to his jurisdiction are the human resources and labour relations teams. As United navigates this crisis, however, Hart will forgo his salary.
United announced that Munoz would be stepping aside from his current role as CEO to become the executive chairman on the board. This made room for current president, Scott Kirby, to become the next CEO.
These leadership changes come at a critical time for all carriers as they eye a swift recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
Over the weekend United came under fire for images of a packed 747 that spread across social media.
I guess @united is relaxing their social distancing policy these days? Every seat full on this 737 pic.twitter.com/rqWeoIUPqL
— Ethan Weiss (@ethanjweiss) May 9, 2020
United responded, stating that this aircraft carried an additional 25 medical professionals. They were flying for free after volunteering to work in New York. The airline said the following, as reported by CBS:
“We’ve provided complimentary flights for more than 1,000 doctors and nurses in the past few weeks alone —and all passengers and employees were asked to wear face coverings, consistent with our new policy.”
Additionally, United recently shared information on its seating amid the outbreak. The firm said the following on its website:
“Though we cannot guarantee that all customers will be seated next to an unoccupied seat, based on historically low travel demand and the implementation of our various social distancing measures, that is the likely outcome.”
However, the company adds that it is limiting seat selections in all cabins. Therefore, customers won’t be able to select seats next to each other or middle seats where available. Altogether, even if customers can’t choose to these seats, the carrier could still place a passenger into them.
