Delta's COO Mike Spanos leaving the company after 1 year
Delta Air Lines is a legacy US carrier with headquarters and a hub in Atlanta, Georgia. Delta is the second largest airline in the world and member of SkyTeam airline aviation alliance. (Photo by Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
ATLANTA - Delta Air Lines has announced that Chief Operations Officer Mike Spanos will be departing the company in early September.
According to a memo sent to Delta employees by Chief Executive Officer Ed Bastian, Spanos shared earlier this summer that he was considering opportunities outside of Delta.
Bastian praised Spanos' leadership since joining Delta, noting that he has helped advance the airline's performance over the past year and that the number of injuries has been significantly reduced so far in 2024.
Bastian also informed employees in the "Note From Ed" that the company does not plan to backfill the position at this time. Instead, upper leadership will report directly to Bastian.
Spanos joined Delta in 2023 after holding leadership positions at Six Flags and Pepsi.
His departure comes just weeks after Delta’s operational meltdown following a massive CrowdStrike outage. However, Bastian did not mention the outage in his memo and noted that Spanos gave notice "earlier this summer."
Delta has reported that the outage cost the airline approximately $500 million. The company also stated that it will seek compensation from CrowdStrike and Microsoft.
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Delta filed a Form 8-K report with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as required whenever there is a significant event that shareholders should be aware of due to its potential impact on the company’s financial status or stock price.