Delta Air Lines COO leaves after turbulent 15-month tenure

Aug. 23 (UPI) -- After just over one year on the job, the chief operating officer of Delta Air Lines is leaving the carrier for an outside position.

The Atlanta-based carrier confirmed the departure of COO Mike Spanos in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.

Spanos joined Delta in May 2023 after holding executive roles with Pepsi and amusement park corporation Six Flags.

Neither Delta nor Spanos commented on where his next job will be.

Spanos' departure will become official on Aug. 31, although in a memo to employees Friday, Delta Chief Executive Officer Ed Bastian said Spanos told him in the summer he was "considering opportunities outside of Delta."

The airline's stock dipped slightly at market open Friday, but shares rebounded and were up 2.19%, or 88 cents, to $41.02 at 11:55 a.m. EDT.

Bastian said the company will not replace Spanos, instead reorchestrating its executive suite.

Chief of Operations John Laughter and Chief Customer Experience Officer Allison Ausband will now report directly to Bastian.

Spanos' departure comes after Delta had some recent high-profile public relations issues.

Earlier this month, the carrier confirmed it lost approximately $550 million after it was forced to cancel thousands of flights due to the national CrowdStrike IT outage in July.

Delta was hit harder by the outage than other major U.S. carriers and is facing a federal class-action lawsuit from passengers who were stranded.

The U.S. Department of Transportation is investigating Delta's response to the outage, while attorneys for Microsoft have suggested the airline has failed to modernize its IT infrastructure like its competitors, which contributed to the calamity.