This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@juno.com. /-------------------- advertisement -----------------------\ Enjoy new investment freedom! Get the tools you need to successfully manage your portfolio from Harrisdirect. Start with award-winning research. Then add access to round-the-clock customer service from Series-7 trained representatives. Open an account today and receive a $100 credit! http://www.nytimes.com/ads/Harrisdirect.html \----------------------------------------------------------/ UAL to Seek New Chief Executive May 1, 2002 By EDWARD WONG UAL, the parent company of United Airlines, said yesterday that it was starting a search for a chief executive to succeed Jack Creighton, who took the post temporarily last October. Mr. Creighton, 69, will remain until a replacement is found, said Joe Hopkins, a company spokesman. Mr. Creighton moved from UAL's board to the chief executive position after James E. Goodwin was forced out. Mr. Goodwin had angered unions at the airline, which is owned by employees. "I was brought in for the short term to stabilize United and improve the relationship between management and employees," Mr. Creighton said yesterday in a statement. "We have made important strides in each of these areas, and I will continue to focus on those priorities as we search for my replacement." UAL said it had hired Russell Reynolds Associates to start a search for a chief executive. The decision was made at a board meeting yesterday in a hotel near O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. It was Mr. Creighton's choice to step down, Mr. Hopkins said, "because he felt he had done what he wanted to do." But the move comes as United is still struggling to survive a huge downturn in the industry and is trying to win wage concessions from its employees. UAL reported a loss of $510 million in the first fiscal quarter after losing $2.1 billion last year, an industry record. Last Thursday, Mr. Creighton met with leaders of four of United's six unions to lay out the company's finances and build a foundation for further talks about wage concessions. But the meeting drew mixed reactions. The flight attendants' union said it would not give ground on pay, while the pilots' union said it would talk further with Mr. Creighton as long as managers also looked at other ways to bring the company to profitability. That same day, United reached a contract agreement with a branch of its machinists' union that represents more than 23,000 ground workers. It was United's only outstanding contract, and the settlement provides top industry pay for the workers. Union members will vote in the next couple of weeks on whether to ratify the contract. Under Mr. Creighton, United also reached a contract agreement in February with 13,000 mechanics and cleaning-crew workers. "Reaching these two agreements was a lot more than what we obtained under Jim Goodwin's leadership," said Joe Tiberi, a spokesman for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. He added that the next chief executive should be "someone who's willing to work with the employees at United Airlines to turn the airline around." Separately, Joseph Adams, the executive director of the Air Transportation Stabilization Board, said yesterday that he was stepping down. The board was created by the federal government after the Sept. 11 attacks to dole out up to $10 billion in federal loan guarantees to the ailing airlines. Daniel Montgomery, a managing director of the board, will succeed him. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/01/business/01AIR.html?ex=1021280303&ei=1&en=204409b50c29a55f HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact onlinesales@nytimes.com or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@nytimes.com. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company