CHICAGO, May 27, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- J. Scott Kirby, Chief Executive Officer, today
issued the following message to nearly 100,000 United Airlines
(NASDAQ: UAL) employees:
Hello everybody.
In my message to you last week, I talked about doing everything
in my power as CEO to make sure we are in a position to bounce back
more quickly than any of our competitors once the virus is defeated
and demand begins to recover.
That means we have to continue to plan for the worst. But at the
same time, we also have to be prepared for the best. After all, the
one thing I am absolutely confident in is that our customers want
to fly again and reconnect with people and places around the world.
And part of preparing for the best means thinking about the
short-term adjustments that we have to make to get through the
crisis as well as the long-term structural changes that will allow
us to thrive once again.
So today, I am asking Greg
Hart to take the lead on those big picture issues.
During my tenure here at United, Greg has been the rock that I
could always count on as our Chief Operations Officer (COO).
Despite having hubs in the most difficult weather/ATC markets of
any airline anywhere in the world, we moved to the top of the
industry in all of the operational metrics. We also invested in the
customer experience and have been making the largest, recent
improvements in Customer Satisfaction of any airline in the
country.
But being the COO of United is a tough, 24x7 job. Greg told me
last year that he wanted to start preparing for retirement but he
agreed to spend the next 12-18 months grooming his successors. And
while none of us could have anticipated the COVID-19 crisis, it
accelerates a need for leadership in new areas.
Specifically, I'm asking Greg to step back from his role as COO
and instead focus on critical medium and long term issues - in
particular, setting the stage for United to be the world leader in
innovation with respect to safety, hygiene, and operating
efficiency. Additionally, I'll be relying on him to continue his
work on one of our most important objectives - developing
strategies to allow flexibility in our cost structure, including
labor costs. Our costs are not designed for the near-term
uncertainty of travel demand. Demand could be down 30% or it could
be down 70%. The way to best survive this crisis is to be able to
nimbly adjust the size of the airline, including labor costs, to
meet demand and importantly, be ready to bounce back quickly when
the virus is defeated. We believe we are working on ideas that no
other airline in the world is considering. Greg is uniquely
qualified to be a leader not just for United, but in world-wide
aviation, taking us all to the next level on these issues that are
so critical to our future.
And so that means that it's time for other members of Greg's
team to step up, in a way that is consistent with our succession
planning, to help run the operation while Greg focuses on more
broad, fundamental, structural changes to our business.
Jon Roitman, currently our
Senior Vice President of Airport and Network Operations, will step
into the role of Senior Vice President and Chief Operations Officer
effective June 1. Jon is the
embodiment of our core4 culture and no one has a better sense of
the inner-workings of our operation. We've made some tough choices
as an organization and even tougher decisions may come in the
near-term, so it's more critical than ever that we have a leader of
Jon's caliber waking up every day thinking solely about how we stay
a step ahead of this virus and its impact on our operation. In
addition to his current responsibilities, Jon will expand his role
to include Flight Operations, Technical Operations and Safety. I am
confident that Jon will rise to this challenge.
As part of these moves, Sarah
Murphy, Senior Vice President of United Express, and
Jan Krems, Vice President of Cargo, will move into
Andrew Nocella's organization and
Toby Enqvist, Senior Vice
President and Chief Customer Officer, will report to Brett Hart.
There are tough times ahead. But there are also glimmers of hope
– our schedule is expected to be down 75 percent in July, a slight
improvement over May and June. While we can't quite see the light
at the end of the tunnel yet, it's not pitch black in here
anymore.
But there is more work to be done and I'm confident that today's
leadership changes will put United in an even better position to
drive our near-term, operational goals, while at the same time
create an environment where we can fly past our competitors when
demand returns.
Thank you for all you do every day to take care of our customers
and one another.
Stay safe and we'll talk soon,
Scott
Scott Kirby, CEO
About United
United's shared purpose is "Connecting People. Uniting the
World." For more information, visit united.com, follow @United on
Twitter and Instagram or connect on Facebook. The common stock of
United's parent, United Airlines Holdings, Inc., is traded on the
Nasdaq under the symbol "UAL".
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995: Certain statements in this release
are forward-looking and thus reflect the Company's current
expectations and beliefs with respect to certain current and future
events and anticipated financial and operating performance. Such
forward-looking statements are and will be subject to many risks
and uncertainties relating to the Company's operations and business
environment that may cause actual results to differ materially from
any future results expressed or implied in such forward-looking
statements. Words such as "expects," "will," "plans,"
"anticipates," "indicates," "remains," "believes," "estimates,"
"forecast," "guidance," "outlook," "goals," "targets" and similar
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Additionally, forward-looking statements include statements that do
not relate solely to historical facts, such as statements which
identify uncertainties or trends, discuss the possible future
effects of current known trends or uncertainties, or which indicate
that the future effects of known trends or uncertainties cannot be
predicted, guaranteed or assured. All forward-looking statements in
this release are based upon information available to the Company on
the date of this release. The Company undertakes no obligation to
publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as
a result of new information, future events, changed circumstances
or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.
The Company's actual results could differ materially from these
forward-looking statements due to numerous factors including,
without limitation, the following: the Company's ability to execute
its strategic operating plan, including its growth,
revenue-generating and cost-control initiatives; general economic
conditions (including interest rates, foreign currency exchange
rates, investment or credit market conditions, crude oil prices,
costs of aircraft fuel and energy refining capacity in relevant
markets); risks of doing business globally, including instability
and political developments that may impact its operations in
certain countries; demand for travel and the impact that global
economic and political conditions have on customer travel patterns;
the Company's capacity decisions and the capacity decisions of its
competitors; competitive pressures on pricing and on demand;
changes in aircraft fuel prices; disruptions in the Company's
supply of aircraft fuel; the Company's ability to cost-effectively
hedge against increases in the price of aircraft fuel, if it
decides to do so; the effects of any technology failures,
cybersecurity or significant data breaches; disruptions to services
provided by third-party service providers; potential reputational
or other impact from adverse events involving the Company's
aircraft or operations, the aircraft or operations of its regional
carriers or its code share partners or the aircraft or operations
of another airline; the Company's ability to attract and retain
customers; the effects of any terrorist attacks, international
hostilities or other security events, or the fear of such events;
the mandatory grounding of aircraft in the Company's fleet;
disruptions to the Company's regional network; the impact of
regulatory, investigative and legal proceedings and legal
compliance risks; the success of the Company's investments in other
airlines, including in other parts of the world; industry
consolidation or changes in airline alliances; the ability of other
air carriers with whom the Company has alliances or partnerships to
provide the services contemplated by the respective arrangements
with such carriers; costs associated with any modification or
termination of the Company's aircraft orders; disruptions in the
availability of aircraft, parts or support from its suppliers; the
Company's ability to maintain satisfactory labor relations and the
results of any collective bargaining agreement process with its
union groups; any disruptions to operations due to any potential
actions by the Company's labor groups; labor costs; the existing
outbreak of coronavirus and the outbreak of any other disease or
similar public health threat that affects travel demand or travel
behavior; the impact of any management changes; extended
interruptions or disruptions in service at major airports where the
Company operates; U.S. or foreign governmental legislation,
regulation and other actions (including Open Skies agreements,
environmental regulations and the United
Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union); the
seasonality of the airline industry; weather conditions; the costs
and availability of aviation and other insurance; the costs and
availability of financing; the Company's ability to maintain
adequate liquidity; the Company's ability to comply with the terms
of its various financing arrangements; the Company's ability to
realize the full value of its intangible assets and long-lived
assets; any impact to the Company's reputation or brand image and
other risks and uncertainties set forth under Part I, Item 1A.,
"Risk Factors," of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the
fiscal year ended December 31, 2019
as well as other risks and uncertainties set forth from time to
time in the reports it files with the SEC.
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SOURCE United Airlines