TW870 wrote:

This is a fantastic, interesting thread.

I have three to name - and I am sorry they are all U.S. based - but that is what I have studied most.

I fully agree with ImperialEagle - that Don Nyrop has to be in my top 3. He turned a small town airline into a global powerhouse. He was obsessive about cost control during regulation - which was rare. Although this set him up for some rough conflicts with Guy Cook and others in the labor movement (I am strongly pro-union but still like Nyrop overall), it made him an innovator. The JT9D powered DC-10 is just one example of his focus on commonality and cost control at every level, as he wanted a 300-seat jet but wanted to avoid introducing a second high bypass turbofan. Rumor has it that NW bought almost all of its jets in cash during regulation - because Nyrop hated paying interest to the banks.

I'm putting Charles Tillinghast from TWA on here. He was by no means financially successful, as he failed to take advantage of TWA's excellent assets in the 1970s, and left it terribly positioned for deregulation when it should have kicked American out of Chicago and challenged United for the top spot in the U.S. But Tillinghast is just a dramatic, vivid person. Go read the transcripts of the lead-up to airline deregulation in the Senate. Tillinghast just blew up at both Democrats and Republicans on the witness stand, calling Kahn and Kennedy's deregulation plan "Alice in Wonderland" over and over. I just love how bombastic he was.

Finally, Alvin Feldman from Frontier and Continental. He staged a heroic campaign to defend Continental against the Lorenzo LBO, and arranged both a potential merger with Western and the employee buyout option (both of which were defeated by Lorenzo). He rallied the troops through the initial crisis of deregulation. Sadly we know this did not end well. Feldman's wife died in 1980, and that added to his deep despair about Lorenzo and deregulation. He committed suicide in his office at LAX on August 9th, 1981.

If you read the Senate transcripts on the Airline Deregulation Act, you get a great sense of the intense drama over deregulation, and how various managers responded.

ifly4free wrote:

Tom Davis from Piedmont Airlines is worth a mention. He grew Piedmont from a puddle jumper into a formidable east coast competitor.

Rakesh Gangwal former CEO of US Airways went on to start India based Indigo Airlines. I don’t know much about them but reading articles about Indigo it sounds like they are a top tier airline in India.

lesfalls wrote:

Don Burr(Ceo of People Express) is one that comes to mind. He had true care over employees with going sometimes to the training classes. His office was at all times open and he had much communication with the staff also. The system of permiting staff to hold a different position throught certain days(one day working at check-in while another as a flight attendant) of the week was also something else I find impeccable done by him.

VC10er wrote:

Aviation is a PASSION even more than it is a BUSINESS. I swear that's true.

I will look up your story and read about it. Thanks so much!

TW870 wrote:

VC10er wrote:

Aviation is a PASSION even more than it is a BUSINESS. I swear that's true.

I will look up your story and read about it. Thanks so much!

Thank you! And I 100% agree. Some of the most interesting leaders ran companies that lost money but that were still completely innovative. I mean Mary Wells ended up married to Harding Lawrence at Braniff, and the "end of the plain plane" was part of an insular set of 1960s corporate relationships that yielded an expensive, overly complicated brand identity that may not have made Braniff any money. But her work was absolutely brilliant and none of us can stop talking about it 52 years later!

TW870 wrote:

lesfalls wrote:

Don Burr(Ceo of People Express) is one that comes to mind. He had true care over employees with going sometimes to the training classes. His office was at all times open and he had much communication with the staff also. The system of permiting staff to hold a different position throught certain days(one day working at check-in while another as a flight attendant) of the week was also something else I find impeccable done by him.

While I totally agree that PeoplExpress was immensely unique, this has to be read in context. PeoplExpress was a very low wage airline. Sure, Burr might have been engaged, but you can't eat friendly. PeoplExpress paid less than half of what its unionized competitors paid, and had a flat payscale. The company may have been fun to work for if you were 20 years old for a summer, but it wasn't a place where you could work and raise a family. Also, I have not seen a quantitative economic study on the cross-utlilization program, but I have my doubts that it saved any money. If you want people to be good at their jobs, training for above wing, below wing, and flight attendant is an expensive, time consuming affair. Some of the ideas - like doing ticketing onboard - were interesting, but with so many junior employees and so much cross utilization, it is a recipe for chaos. Bottom line is I think Burr is unique, but created many more problems than good.

huaiwei wrote:

Just an observation as an Asian: the list is decidedly American and Euro-centric. It this because Western businesses are more personality-based, while Asian ones, particularly the Eastern Asian ones, tend to focus more on the airline as a whole team?