Tom Horton elected oneworld Chairman

NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Governing Board of oneworld®, the premier global airline alliance, has elected American Airlines Chairman, President and Chief Executive Tom Horton as its Chairman.

NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Governing Board of oneworld®, the premier global airline alliance, has elected American Airlines Chairman, President and Chief Executive Tom Horton as its Chairman.

He takes on the role from Gerard Arpey, whom he succeeded at the helm of the alliance’s US partner late last month following Mr Arpey’s decision to retire from the carrier.

Tom Horton’s nomination was made at the oneworld Governing Board’s final meeting of the year, held in New York, where the alliance’s headquarters has been based since June.

He will act as “first among equals” of the chief executives of the group’s member airlines, leading oneworld as the alliance undergoes its biggest expansion in five years with the addition in 2012 of airberlin, Kingfisher Airlines and Malaysia Airlines.

oneworld CEO Bruce Ashby said: “Tom offered to hand over the baton as oneworld Chairman from American Airlines to one of our other airlines but the unanimous view was that the alliance would benefit greatly at this time from the continuity in our leadership that Tom represents – while at the same time underlining the commitment of oneworld to American while it undergoes its restructuring.

“We appreciate Tom agreeing to take on this role at this time. He worked hand-in-glove in alliance matters with Gerard Arpey during Gerard’s period of tenure as oneworld Chairman and has played a pivotal role in strengthening our alliance through the significant deepening of cooperation between American and so many of our other member airlines in recent years.

“We thank Gerard sincerely for his leadership of oneworld during the past three great years of progress for our group. We are fortunate to have in Tom a man with the vision, diplomacy, determination and overall capabilities to lead us forward on our journey to establish oneworld as the first choice alliance for frequent global travellers the world over.”

About Tom Horton

Thomas W. Horton was named as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AMR and its American Airlines in November 2011. He was appointed President of AMR and American in July 2010. Previously, he served since 2006 as Executive Vice-President Finance and Planning and Chief Financial Officer of AMR and American, including holding responsibility for alliances, upon returning to American from AT&T Corp., where he had been Vice-Chairman and Chief Financial Officer.

Tom Horton initially joined AMR in 1985 and held a range of senior financial positions with AMR, including Vice-President and Controller. From 1998 to 2000, he was Vice-President responsible for the airline’s Europe business, based in London. In January 2000, he became Senior Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer of AMR.

In 2002, he joined AT&T, where he served first as Chief Financial Officer and then as Vice-Chairman and CFO, leading the evaluation of strategic alternatives, ultimately leading to the combination with SBC, which formed the new AT&T.

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

Share to...