Delta Air Lines announced Friday that its chief operating officer will leave the company next week to take another job after just over a year in the airline business.
Michael Spanos’ departure comes weeks after Delta canceled thousands of flights during a botched recovery from a global technology outage.
Spanos spent most of his career at PepsiCo and the Pepsi Bottling Group and was CEO of amusement park operator Six Flags Entertainment before joining Delta in June 2023. He is one of three executive vice presidents at the Atlanta-based airline.
Delta did not give a reason for Spanos’ departure in a regulatory filing, only that he would receive the severance pay he is entitled to under the company’s executive and director plan. Spanos received $8.6 million in compensation last year, mostly in the form of stock awards.
CEO Ed Bastian said in a note to employees that Spanos told him “earlier this summer” that he was considering leaving Delta. A spokesman said this happened before the technology outage.
Bastian wrote that Spanos will move to another company in September, but he did not name it. The CEO praised Spanos for improving Delta’s performance, adding that Delta will not appoint a new chief operating officer.
Chief Operating Officers (COOs) typically run a company’s day-to-day operations and report directly to the CEO. They are often considered second-tier executives, but at Delta, that role is generally assigned to President Glen Hauenstein.
Delta was hit harder than any other U.S. airline by last month’s technology outage, which began with a faulty upgrade from cybersecurity software provider CrowdStrike to computers running Microsoft Windows.
Other airlines recovered within days, but Delta canceled about 7,000 flights in five days because it had difficulty repositioning and reassigning staff to aircraft.
The U.S. Department of Transportation is investigating the collapse, and Delta is seeking $500 million in damages from CrowdStrike and Microsoft. The tech companies claim Delta refused help and made misleading claims.
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