Here’s How United CEO Oscar Munoz is Beginning to Remake the Airline
Skift Take
Jeff Smisek has been gone from United for a long time, but the airline is finally starting to change its strategy in meaningful ways. That's definitely good news for investors, and probably for consumers too.
Roughly 14 months after CEO Jeff Smisek resigned from United Airlines amid allegations he may have tried to bribe a New Jersey government official, his successor, Oscar Munoz, is finally leaving his imprint on the carrier.
Yes, Munoz has kept a high profile since taking over in September 2015, and he has had some successes, including reaching new contracts with many employee unions and winning back customers with a renewed focus on passenger experience. He was in charge when United returned snacks to economy class and he's partially responsible for developing the airline's new business class experience, Polaris, debuting on Dec. 1.
But unlike a President-elect, Munoz could not remove every manager on his first day. For the first year of his tenture, many members of Smisek's senior management team still were running the company. And often, they operated it just as they had since 2010, when United and Continental merged.
That started to change late this summer, with several
