Longtime leader of American Airlines, Doug Parker, steps down as chairman

Doug Parker, who was the CEO of American Airlines for more than eight years before leaving last year, announced on Thursday that he would stand down from his position as chairman on April 30.

New chairman

The new chairman will be Greg Smith, who spent more than 30 years at Boeing including the last 10 as chief financial officer.

At Boeing, Smith was responsible for the manufacturing and quality programmes during the development and launch of the 737 Max, which was grounded globally following two fatal crashes. As Dennis Muilenburg was fired in the latter part of 2019, he briefly served as interim CEO.

Smith, 56, abruptly left Boeing in early 2021 before joining American's board in January 2022.

CEO of US Airways

When Parker, 61, arranged a deal in 2013 that gave him and his management team control of American Airlines, which was just coming out of bankruptcy protection, he was the CEO of US Airways.

Even before the epidemic that decimated the US tourism industry in early 2020, American suffered with more debt than its competitors throughout Parker's leadership of the airline.

Moreover, American's labour union relations deteriorated, and the federal government filed a lawsuit to end a collaboration with JetBlue in New York and Boston. Last March, Robert Isom succeeded Parker as CEO.

Moreover, American declared that longstanding board members Jim Albaugh and Ray Robinson will not run for reelection this spring.