Delta COO leaves after one year
- Delta's chief operations officer, Mike Spanos, is leaving the company after just over a year on the job.
- Spanos, an outsider hired in May 2023, is departing for another company.
- The sudden departure of the COO raises questions about Delta's leadership and future direction.
Delta Air Lines announced on Friday that Chief Operating Officer Mike Spanos will leave the company at the end of August for another job opportunity. Spanos, who joined Delta in May 2023, previously held leadership positions at Six Flags and PepsiCo. His exit comes shortly after Delta faced significant operational challenges due to a major outage at CrowdStrike, which the airline estimates cost around $500 million. In a memo to employees, CEO Ed Bastian confirmed Spanos's departure and noted that Spanos had expressed interest in pursuing other opportunities earlier in the summer. Despite the recent turmoil, Bastian emphasized that Spanos's decision to leave was not directly related to the operational issues Delta experienced following the CrowdStrike incident. Delta has decided not to appoint a direct replacement for Spanos. Instead, the airline will have John Laughter, the chief of operations and president of Delta's TechOps maintenance and overhaul unit, and Allison Ausband, the chief customer experience officer, report directly to Bastian. This restructuring aims to streamline operations following Spanos's departure. The airline's leadership transition comes at a critical time as Delta seeks to recover from the financial impact of the recent disruptions and navigate the competitive landscape of the airline industry. The company is also pursuing compensation from CrowdStrike and Microsoft for the losses incurred during the outage.