US Airways Appoints Chief Operating Officer

[700UW]

US Airways’ new COO gets $120,000 signing bonus

INQUIRER STAFF

US Airways' new executive vice president and chief operating officer received a $120,000 signing bonus and will make an annual base salary of $400,000, the airline said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Robert Isom, a 43-year-old airline veteran named to the new post yesterday by US Airways Group Inc., also will be eligible to participate in the company's executive-bonus program.

In addition, he received a grant of 70,000 stock-appreciation rights, with one-third vested in each year of 2008 through 2010, and a grant of 35,000 restricted stock units vested in thirds over the same period.

Isom is a former vice president for ground operations and airport customer service at Northwest Airlines Corp.

 

[bigbusboy]

Excellent points.

For right now I'm giving Mr Isom the benefit of the doubt. He apparently according to the Press Release has some turnaround experience and that is a critical skill set.

The open and more far reaching question is how much of a free hand will Dougweiser & Scooter give him????
[/quote]


Bob I have to agree with you. He's going to have a very steep uphill climb. But his turnaround experience will help a little. I'm going to also give him the benefit of the doubt only because this is a positive move in the right direction that should have been done long ago. If he fails, it won't be of his own doing. Most likely Parker & Co. didn't allow him to use his "skill set" and experience properly. Another poster somewhere else on this thread suggested this is why, in fact, he left NWA. Time will tell....hopefully not too much time. :unsure:

 

[bigbusboy]

I was quoting PineyBob on that last post. Can't get this quoting thing to work right...sorry. I'll get it right eventually. :blink:

 

[leprechaun]

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss........don't be fooled again!

 

[leprechaun]

"IT'S A MADHOUSE, A MADHOUSE!"

Don't you get it. Don't you see the "big picture"?

Things are the way they are, because that's exactly the way they want them to be.

 

[Dog Wonder]

Don't forget the cost of the golden parachute strapped on to Mule' when he 'retired'.

 

[ableoneable]

Robert Isom is a westie retread.

His reputation is that of a beancounter who's limited operations experience was marked by screw ups.

Apparantly it is going to need to get worse before it [eventually maybie] gets better.

Maybie he learned a lot at Northwest but I am not holding my breath.

Looks like the jetstream is going to stay "unusual" for a while.

 

[Ramp Rat]

At least Anthony is retiring.Damn glad he got the PHL bag problem solved like Doug said he did. :down: :down: :down:

And what a bang up job he did in PHL. How many million, how many new pieces of ground equipment, how many employees added??? This guy is a looser. Rather then admit defeat, let me just take my toys and millions and go home. What Isom needs to do is not relocate to PHX, but to PHL. I am sure there is a nice office next to the C concourse ramp breakroom.

 

[jimcfs]

And what a bang up job he did in PHL. How many million, how many new pieces of ground equipment, how many employees added??? This guy is a looser. Rather then admit defeat, let me just take my toys and millions and go home. What Isom needs to do is not relocate to PHX, but to PHL. I am sure there is a nice office next to the C concourse ramp breakroom.

You mean there's no room in the Terminal F ghetto? h34r:

 

[AnalyzeThis]

Just a couple of points about Isom

Wasn't he working for McLelland when he was responsible for the turn around of AWA during their public relations nightmare in the late 90's. My understanding is Jeff was the key player in the turnaround. Hopefully Robert learned a lot from Jeff and will be able to turn around the operating side of the airline.

As for Anthony, you either love him or you hate him. He is very respected and will be missed. It was his choice to leave, he was not forced to retire. He had planned to retire almost a year ago, but elected to stay through RES migration. He was a man that got things done, wasn't afraid to dig into the trenches. Love him or hate him, he was a strong force at US. Personally I wish him well on his retirement.

As for why Isom is here - 1) it was the top recommendation in the Independant Audit - US needed a COO. 2) Scott is a good numbers guy, but the operation was wound way to tight. They need someone to come in and work with schedule planning, yield, marketing, etc to ensure that we have a schedule that allows for the REAL operating environment, not some sunny PHX/LAS operation.

Many things are on the horizon and this is just the start. While this may well have been the worst summer we have every seen, change is in the air and problems are being addressed.

Best of luck to the newbies.....

 

[WCT]

Just a couple of points about Isom

Wasn't he working for McLelland when he was responsible for the turn around of AWA during their public relations nightmare in the late 90's. My understanding is Jeff was the key player in the turnaround. Hopefully Robert learned a lot from Jeff and will be able to turn around the operating side of the airline.

As for Anthony, you either love him or you hate him. He is very respected and will be missed. It was his choice to leave, he was not forced to retire. He had planned to retire almost a year ago, but elected to stay through RES migration. He was a man that got things done, wasn't afraid to dig into the trenches. Love him or hate him, he was a strong force at US. Personally I wish him well on his retirement.

As for why Isom is here - 1) it was the top recommendation in the Independant Audit - US needed a COO. 2) Scott is a good numbers guy, but the operation was wound way to tight. They need someone to come in and work with schedule planning, yield, marketing, etc to ensure that we have a schedule that allows for the REAL operating environment, not some sunny PHX/LAS operation.

Many things are on the horizon and this is just the start. While this may well have been the worst summer we have every seen, change is in the air and problems are being addressed.

Best of luck to the newbies.....

Anthony Mule was well respected?? Give me a break!! Why don't you ask any Westie, especially fa's what they think about the Mule?! Most of the response will be quite negative. He use to be the Director of Inflight Services before his big shot exec job. He is the reason for that lead by intimidation type mgmt. He could careless about the frontline employees, just accoutablity. He fired so many inflight sups, mgrs etc, because he didn't want to take the blame for his own mistakes. He was an a$$ and will not be missed out West....

 

[Redneck]

Here's a thought:

Southwest makes money because they treat their employees with respect. The company builds schedules to maximize daily productivity and time off for the employee to spend with their family...Southwest airlines cares about its employees and, in turn, the employees save money (FUEL) and tow the line in any way they can because there is a bond of trust. The employees of Southwest are eager to work on days off because they love the company they work for. The management at Southwest pays themselves modestly and does not line their pockets with bonus money at every given chance. The employees of Southwest (internal customers) share in the rewards of their success in a meaningfull and quantifiable way by means of stock grants (Note: not Hat Trick...the name is insulting)

At PSA, our schedules are built to maximize attrition. We have literally been told by our scheduling committee that the company could make schedules commutable for the pilots and flight attendants but were directed not to by PSA's President. The management at PSA views our days off as belonging to them and have even threatened to fire one of our members who was unable to work on his day off. You can fly 100 hours a month and they will threaten to fire you for being unavailable for a junior manning event. Our dependability issues are a direct result of our incompetent management. People here don't care because PSA is an awful place to work and most of us are just counting the days until we can go work somewhere else (Southwest).

Keep counting those beans...you will find you get back exactly the effort you put into respecting your employees...minimal.

 

[RowUnderDCA]

Live near your workplace

 

[CLT CS AGENT]

:boring:
The players may have changed but the game is still the same. LCC (Low Class Carrier) will not work...it doesn't matter how many "experts" they put in the litterbox. The best fix for US is to sell it to someone who cares.

 

[HP_JACK]

Anthony Mule... he was always so busy! Doing absolutely NOTHING!