United Airlines CEO eyes list of problems
The new CEO of United Airlines faces a daunting list of problems he must fix, including late flights and technology that too often suffers embarrassing outages.
But if Oscar Munoz listens to people who fly his airline — and some who have stopped — he’ll start his tenure by addressing a longtime problem for the world’s second-biggest airline: poor customer service.
Early signs point to a honeymoon for Munoz, the railroad executive tapped to replace Jeff Smisek as CEO. United’s labor unions and Wall Street analysts were mostly upbeat about Munoz’s arrival — or maybe more accurately, Smisek’s departure.
Munoz knows the airline from his combined 11 years as a director first of Continental Airlines and then at United Continental Holdings. Now he must guide United on a day-to-day basis:
“I know from my time on the board we’ve made significant progress, but there’s still a lot to be done,” he says.
Among the biggest challenges:
Improve customer service — Frequent flyers often say that United’s employees are less likely to help than counterparts at other big airlines.
n Reduce delays and canceled flights — In the first six months of this year, United’s on-time performance trailed its three largest peers — Delta, American and Southwest.
n Fix technology glitches — Since combining its reservations and other computer systems with those of Continental in 2012, United has suffered several widespread outages, often leading to hundreds of canceled or delayed flights.
n Resolve government investigations — Smisek and two other senior executives departed because of an ongoing investigation into whether United gave preferential treatment to the former head of an agency that runs New York-area airports including United’s hub in Newark, New Jersey. Federal prosecutors wouldn’t comment, and United executives haven’t said much other than suggesting that they don’t expect a large financial penalty.
