Delta Air Lines’ executive vice president and chief operating officer is leaving the company, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Thursday.
In the filing, Delta said the departure of Vice President Michael Spanos will become official on Aug. 31.
Spanos, who has been in the airline industry for just over a year, previously worked at PepsiCo, the Pepsi Bottling Group, and was the former CEO of Six Flags Entertainment.
The decision comes more than a month after cybersecurity technology company CrowdStrike performed a faulty security software update in July that led to global outages affecting up to 8.5 million Microsoft Windows users.
Amid worldwide closures, the airline industry, including Delta, canceled hundreds of flights over several days, prompting a Department of Transportation (DOT) investigation.
DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg posted a complaint form for customers to report their experiences with Delta during the outage.
Buttigieg later issued letters to CEOs in the airline industry reminding them of their companies’ obligation to refund passengers whose flights were canceled.
“Air travelers have a right to a refund if their flight is canceled or significantly changed and they are not offered or choose not to accept alternatives such as rebooking,” he wrote.
“Air travelers do not have to accept travel vouchers or credits that lock them into future travel.
Delta Air Lines, which struggled to recuperate after the outage, said it was cooperating with federal regulators.
“We remain entirely focused on restoring our operation after cybersecurity vendor CrowdStrike’s faulty Windows update rendered IT systems across the globe inoperable,” a Delta spokesperson said in a statement. “Across our operation, Delta teams are working tirelessly to care for and make it right for customers impacted by delays and cancellations as we work to restore the reliable, on-time service they have come to expect from Delta.”
The filing did not give a reason for Spanos’s exit but said he would receive the company’s severance plan benefits for executives.
A spokesperson said Spanos made the decision before CrowdStrike’s outage.
The Epoch Times contacted Delta for comment but didn’t receive a reply by publication time.
Jana Pruet and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
