New York, May 24: Rakesh Gangwal, the first Indian American to head anAmerican airline, will most likely quit as CEO of US Airways if the mergerwith United Airlines (UAL) reported late on Tuesday goes through. Thedynamic leader of US Airways, instrumental for turning the limping airlinearound to high profits after taking over one and a half years ago, isexpected to resign from his position, according to a Wall Street Journal(WSJ) report today.UAL, the world's largest airline company, has as its president anotherIndian American, Rono Dutta, who has been with it since 1985. US Airways isthe sixth largest airline. Gangwal and Dutta were colleagues at UAL beforethe former moved to US Airways six years ago. Calcutta-born Gangwal, agraduate of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, has an MBAfrom Harvard Business School. UAL, based in Chicago, employs 96,000 peopleand operates 594 jets, carrying some 87 million passengers in 1999, on 2,400daily flights.
US Airways, based in Arlington, Virginia, has 40,000 employees, 383 jets andferried 56 million people, with an average of 4,500 flights daily. UAL had1999 revenues of $18.3 billion and US Airways $8.6 billion, according toinformation provided by the companies carried in WSJ.
UAL's acquisition of US Airways is valued at $4.3 billion in cash and $7.3billion in assumed debt and leases, according to sources familiar with thedeal, said the WSJ. But the merger may face problems from the US JusticeDepartment.
-- IANS
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