Executive Moves From JetBlue, To Delta, To American… In Just Two Months!

This is one of the most interesting career progressions we have ever seen at a US airline. Over the course of two months, an executive has gone from working for one airline to another.

Scott Laurence lands job at American

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 challenging the alliance and his move to Delta was significant.

After a few weeks at Delta, he resigned. Many wondered if there was more to the story, or if there would be burned too many bridges. He will start his job at American in the coming days.

A new role has been created for him, and he will report directly to American's Chief Commercial Officer. He will be in charge of oneworld partnerships, co brand, and new distribution capability.

How exactly did this all play out?

I shared the three most likely scenarios when it was announced that Laurence had resigned.

• 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 JetBlue, 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

The most likely explanation to me is the last option. I wonder how he ended up at American.

• I imagine JetBlue didn’t want to rehire him after he left the airline
• Laurence definitely presents less of a threat to JetBlue at American than at Delta (assuming there was an NDA issue here)
• Interestingly Laurence’s role at American doesn’t involve network planning (unlike what he did at JetBlue, and what the plan was at Delta), so I wonder if that’s a coincidence or intentional

Bottom line

A senior executive at the airline left in January to join Delta. Within a few weeks it was announced that he had resigned. He is taking a job at American.

What do you think about this situation?

The tip of the hat was given to the man.