Saturday June 24 3:05 PM ET
Alaska Air Maintenance Boss to Quit - Paper
SEATTLE (Reuters) - Alaska Airlines' (NYSE:ALK - news) top maintenance executive John Fowler is set to retire, citing five months of intense scrutiny of the
carrier's engineering division in the wake of a deadly crash last January, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported in its Saturday edition.
Fowler, executive vice president for technical operations and systems controls, posted his decision on an Alaska employees' Web site on Friday, saying he would stay
on during a transition period at the request of senior executives.
``The past five months have been difficult for our company and all of our employees...a change needs to occur in order for this great company to turn the corner and
move forward,'' Fowler said, according to the paper.
Alaska officials denied Fowler, 52, had been forced out after the crash of Flight 261 off the California coast killed all 88 people on board and heightened criticism of
the airline's maintenance shops, the paper said.
``This is his decision. There's no one here pointing fingers at anyone,'' the paper quoted airline spokesman Jack Evans as saying.
The paper said Fowler, who has worked for Alaska since late 1991 when he was hired as vice president of maintenance and
engineering, had not set a retirement date.
The Federal Aviation Administration decides next week whether to accept an Alaska Airlines plan for revamping its maintenance
operations or revoke its authority to service its own jets.
A grand jury in San Francisco is probing charges Alaska falsified maintenance records, and dozens of mechanics have complained they had faced pressure to speed
jets into service.
The Seattle-based airline, the nation's 10th largest, insists it has never knowingly allowed a plane to fly in an unsafe condition.
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