If you've been following airline news lately, you may have been a bit confused over the headlines about Scott Laurence, an experienced airline network planner, and apparently the jumpiest man in the industry.
- Jan 10: Delta Poaches Scott Laurence, Key JetBlue Executive
- Feb 18: Delta network planning exec Laurence resigns after one month
- Mar 2: Former JetBlue and short-time Delta manager to join American
Of course, it's true that Laurence spent 14 years at JetBlue before starting the hot-seat dance. At JetBlue, he was one of the architects of JetBlue's Northeast Alliance with American Airlines.
When he jumped to a similar role at Delta as vice-president for network planning the industry assumed that Delta was responding to the Alliance's stiff competition with Delta by hiring the man who knew it best to help them beef up their response, but that apparently didn't work out as planned. No word as to whether there was an un-meeting of the minds, or whether American made an offer too tempting to refuse.
In his new role at AA, Laurence will head a group that will oversee American's OneWorld partnerships, co-branding projects and new distribution technology. It is not clear whether he will have any input into networking decisions, or whether his move will affect the Justice Department's suit to break up the Transportation Department-approved Northeast Alliance.
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