American Airlines Names ExpressJet CEO James Ream as Senior Vice President for Maintenance & Engineering
December 01 2009 - 3:45PM
PR Newswire (US)
Longtime AA Executive Carmine Romano to Retire after 41 Years FORT
WORTH, Texas, Dec. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- American Airlines
today announced that James Ream, President and CEO of ExpressJet,
will become American's Senior Vice President of Maintenance &
Engineering, effective Jan. 1. Ream succeeds Carmine Romano, who is
retiring after 41 years with American Airlines. Ream will oversee
all of American's maintenance operations worldwide, including its
major repair, overhaul and modification bases in Fort Worth, Texas,
Tulsa, Okla., and Kansas City, Mo. This includes the more than
12,000 American Airlines maintenance employees who support a fleet
of more than 600 aircraft. During the past eight years, Ream has
led ExpressJet, a company with 244 aircraft flying under the
Continental Express brand, as well as corporate and charter
flights. Prior to that, he spent seven years at Continental
Airlines, where he served as President and Chief Operating Officer
for Continental Express Airlines. In a previous stint at American
Airlines, between 1987 and 1995, Ream worked in various positions
of increasing responsibility in the corporate purchasing, financial
planning, capital planning, and finance groups. Ream's aviation
career began with his time serving in the U.S. Army as a helicopter
mechanic and crew chief. He earned an associate of science degree
in Aviation Maintenance and holds FAA certificates as an Airframe
& Powerplant mechanic and private pilot. He also holds a
bachelor of science degree in Operations Management from San Diego
State University and a master's in Business Administration from
Northwestern University. Carmine Romano began his AA career as a
line mechanic in New York and concluded it as the airline's top
Maintenance & Engineering executive. Along the way, he worked
as an aircraft maintenance technician, a production supervisor on
widebody products, a production manager on Boeing 747s and DC-10s,
a product manager for MD-80s, Managing Director over Fokker 100
maintenance and later other aircraft types, and Vice President for
Base Maintenance before being named to his current position in
2007. "Carmine has played a major role in establishing American
Airlines as a leader in airline maintenance operations and
engineering," said Gerard Arpey, American's Chairman and CEO. "His
hard work, leadership, and commitment to continuous improvement
have made us a better, more effective airline. Moreover, his
devotion to our company and its people have helped us buck the
industry trend of outsourcing maintenance to other countries and
keep thousands of maintenance jobs in the United States. I know I
speak for the entire company in thanking Carmine for his important
contributions to our airline and wishing him the best in his
retirement." "While Carmine's shoes will be hard to fill, we are
pleased to have an executive of Jim Ream's caliber returning to our
team," Arpey added. About American Airlines American Airlines,
American Eagle and AmericanConnection® serve 250 cities in 40
countries with, on average, more than 3,400 daily flights. The
combined network fleet numbers more than 900 aircraft. American's
award-winning Web site, AA.com®, provides users with easy access to
check and book fares, plus personalized news, information and
travel offers. American Airlines is a founding member of the
oneworld® Alliance, which brings together some of the best and
biggest names in the airline business, enabling them to offer their
customers more services and benefits than any airline can provide
on its own. Together, its members serve nearly 700 destinations in
more than 130 countries and territories. American Airlines, Inc.
and American Eagle Airlines, Inc. are subsidiaries of AMR
Corporation. AmericanAirlines, American Eagle, AmericanConnection,
AA.com, We know why you fly and AAdvantage are registered
trademarks of American Airlines, Inc. (NYSE:AMR) AmericanAirlines®
We know why you fly® Current AMR Corp. releases can be accessed on
the Internet. The address is http://www.aa.com DATASOURCE: American
Airlines CONTACT: Tim Wagner, Corporate Communications of American
Airlines, Fort Worth, Texas, +1-817-967-1577, Web Site:
http://www.aa.com/
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