Industry veteran Michael Conway has become chief executive of Air Jamaica, as the government-owned airline moves from an interim board and management to new leaders. Conway’s appointment is part of this switch, which has been expected for nearly six months.
When Gordon “Butch” Stewart pulled out last December, the Jamaican government appointed an interim management team headed by Vincent Lawrence. Part of his job was to recruit a chief executive. Lawrence was due to leave in June, but has stayed on until now. After a month’s overlap with Conway, Lawrence will depart at the end of December.
Conway is a 25-year veteran of commercial aviation. He started as a vice-president and controller at Continental Airlines after a position in the airline unit of accountants and consultants PriceWaterhouse. He is best known as a co-founder of America West in 1981, where he became chief executive a decade later.
In the mid-1990s, Conway helped found and led National Airlines, a Las Vegas-based carrier that, like Air Jamaica, worked closely with hotel and resort operators. A casualty of the 11 September 2001 attacks, National went into bankruptcy and ceased operations in 1992.
OK Melhado, one of Air Jamaica’s interim directors, agreed to chair the airline’s new board on the condition that Air Jamaica hire a qualified airline manager as chief executive. Earlier US airline veterans at Air Jamaica include Dave Banmiller, now at Aloha Airlines.
DAVID KNIBB/SEATTLE
Source: Airline Business
