United Airlines appoints acting CEO

The company said late Monday that general counsel Brett J. Hart will take over for Oscar Munoz, who went on medical leave.

Hart’s appointment follows the hospitalisation of Munoz 15 October for a heart attack only a little over a month after accepting the chief executive job at United. “In the meantime, the United family’s thoughts and well-wishes are with Oscar”.

Under Munoz’s leadership, he made an efforts to resolve the complaints of customers and employees on United Continental in recent years, which surfaced after the merger of United and Continental airlines.

The lack of information given about Mr Munoz’s condition has attracted criticism.

Henry Meyer III, the non-executive chairman of the board, offered no details on what would happen in “the corporate governance process necessitated by the hospitalization”.

Hart will make his first presentation to investors as acting chief on Thursday, when the company reports third-quarter results.

“It’s a judgment call”, said Donna Dabney, executive director of The Conference Board, a business group that does research on management and other corporate topics. Munoz used to be the president of CSX Corp., a railroad company, but he was plucked to run United Continental Holdings following the shameful exit of former CEO Jeff Smisek. In a statement, it said that Munoz was taken to hospital on Thursday.

While United might be waiting to provide comment out of respect for Munoz’ privacy, the company also has an obligation to shareholders, Sonnenfeld said. More recently, federal prosecutors began investigating whether under Smisek the airline gave preferential treatment to a former chairman of the agency that operates the New York-area airports.

“I don’t want United to overshare – I just want to know if it is a long-term issue”, said Jim Corridore, an analyst with S&P Capital IQ, which on Tuesday revised downward its rating of United from “strong buy” to “buy”.

Monday’s statement left many questions unanswered.

While all three have extensive industry experience, Laderman is the least likely to get the job, because from the outside it does not appear that United Continental’s problems are financial ones. He stepped down as CEO in August of that year, and died of pancreatic cancer two months later.