Delta Air Lines Chief Operating Officer Mike Spanos is leaving the company, a little more than a month after the airline suffered an operational meltdown following the CrowdStrike technology outage.
Atlanta-based Delta announced Spanos’ departure in a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday morning. The airline said in the filing he would leave the company effective Aug. 31.
The CrowdStrike outage affected companies that use Microsoft systems around the world on the morning of July 19. But for Delta in particular, the outage triggered problems the airline struggled to recover from, leading to a massive operational meltdown lasting five days with more than 6,000 flight cancellations.
Thousands of passengers were stranded and stuck in airports during the mass cancellations. The U.S. Department of Transportation is investigating Delta and its treatment of customers. Attorneys for Delta have been clashing with attorneys for CrowdStrike and Microsoft over who was to blame.
In a memo to employees, Delta CEO Ed Bastian wrote that Spanos told him earlier this summer he was “considering opportunities outside of Delta.” That occurred before the CrowdStrike outage on July 19, according to a Delta spokeswoman.
Bastian added Spanos would leave Delta “to take a position at another company.”
“Under Mike’s leadership, he has helped to advance Delta’s performance over the past year, and we continue to lead the industry across all operating metrics. Importantly, we’ve seen significant reductions in injuries during the first half of 2024 versus last year,” Bastian wrote.
Delta does not plan to select a new chief operating officer to replace Spanos, according to Bastian. Instead, Chief of Operations John Laughter and Chief Customer Experience Officer Allison Ausband will report to Bastian.
Spanos will get benefits from Delta’s severance plan for officers and directors.
He has been with the company only about 14 months, joining Delta in June 2023 with experience as a former CEO of Six Flags Entertainment and as a longtime executive at Pepsi. Bastian was a vice president at Pepsi before he joined Delta in 1998.
While Spanos’ background was outside of the airline industry, Delta said at the time that he had experience in front line leadership, strategy, operations and a global perspective.
Bastian also said last year that Spanos would bring experience to accelerate integration across operational, customer experience and technology teams.
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