Odd: Delta’s Newest Executive Already Resigned

This is an incredibly strange development regarding Delta's newest executive.

Scott Laurence moves to Delta, resigns

In January, I wrote about Delta appointing Scott Laurence as Vice President of Network Planning. One of the key people behind the strategic alliance between American and JetBlue was Laurence.

The alliance was supposed to allow American and JetBlue to better compete against Delta in New York. The Department of Justice is currently challenging this alliance and his move to Delta was significant.

Just a few weeks after starting at Delta, Laurence resigned. There is no further information as to why Laurence decided to leave the airline, though Delta has confirmed this.

After working at US Airways, then at United, then at JetBlue, and now at Delta, Laurence has been in the airline industry for 25 years.

What went wrong?

It's weird to leave an airline for a competitor and then resign. One of three things happened.

• Laurence immediately decided Delta wasn’t a good fit for him
• Delta decided Laurence wasn’t a good fit for the airline
• While you’d think this would have been crystal clear prior to him departing, perhaps there was some sort of non-compete clause (or something) that caused a major issues for the prospect of Laurence working at Delta, given his knowledge of the American & JetBlue alliance

One thing is certain, Laurence is running out of US airlines to work for. I can't imagine American would hire him since he was involved in the strategic alliance and left. Delta is no longer on the table. Who knows what kind of relationship he has with that airline since he worked at United before.

Pickings are getting slim, but I suppose there is always Southwest, Allegiant, Frontier.

Bottom line

Scott took a job at Delta a few weeks ago, after working for many years at JetBlue. He was behind the alliance that was supposed to challenge Delta in New York. He resigned from Delta.

One of the more unusual resignations we have seen at an airline is this one. I can't help but wonder what the story is here.

What do you think about the resignation of Laurence?

The tip of the hat was given to the man.