:wub:US Airways operations chief makes himself at home here
Dawn Gilbertson
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 6, 2005 12:00 AM
Face and head coated in bright blue paint, orange wands in his hands, Al Crellin looked like one of the gang as he and other US Airways executives toured the company's operations as Blue Man Group on Halloween.
He fit right in, dancing when they danced and handing out candy to employees and passengers on a daylong adventure away from the office.
Unless you visit his bare office or ask him for directions, you never would know Crellin is the new guy in the Tempe airline's executive suite. He's been in Arizona barely a month, transferring from the old US Airways headquarters in Arlington, Va., after the America West-US Airways merger closed in September.
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Crellin, executive vice president of operations, is the only high-level executive from the old US Airways in the upper ranks of the combined airline's management team. He is one of just three executive vice presidents who report to US Airways CEO Doug Parker.
Most of the top US Airways executives moved on to other airlines or retired. Crellin, 58, thought about doing the same, but decided to uproot from the East Coast after 16 years because he was impressed by America West's management team and felt he could play a key role in helping make the merger a success. He's been through several in his 34-year career with US Airways and its predecessor companies.
"In the airline business, when you do mergers there is, a lot of times, a lack of understanding on both sides about how best to put cultures together and people together . . . and how all that works," he said.
"I think had I opted to leave some of that mix might have come out differently."
Bill Pollock, head of the pilots union for the old US Airways, said the East Coast operations are much larger and more complex than America West's Phoenix and Las Vegas hubs. The airline has some major challenges in congested Philadelphia, for example.
"I think they're drawing on his experience," he said.
Not without critics
Crellin's appointment didn't draw unanimous raves. He's been criticized on aviation message boards on the Internet, with some employees saying they were shocked he got the job. Some pilots were lobbying for another US Airways official.
Critics blame Crellin for the airline's operational woes, including last Christmas' baggage meltdown and resulting public-relations nightmare in Philadelphia. They say Crellin was never held accountable for the airline being short-staffed during the holidays.
"He's the guy that is the fall guy for the things that don't go right," Pollock said.
Crellin says that he's responsible as the head of operations for any problems related to how the airline runs. That doesn't mean, he says, that he caused them.
"I think what happened last December was really a culmination of a lot of things," he said.
The airline was in its second bankruptcy, workers were going through more wage and benefit cuts and the weather was bad, among other factors, he said.
"It was a very difficult period of time for us," he said.
And in tough times, he said, "I think my popularity probably drops."
Crellin doesn't rank the baggage meltdown as a low point in his career. That title is reserved for the seven airline crashes he's worked during his long career. US Airways had five. The former PSA, where he started, suffered two.
Among the high points: "I've gone through a number of regime changes and survived them all," he said with a laugh.
Started at bottom
Crellin, who grew up in El Segundo, Calif., started in the industry in his 20s after short stints as a Marine and as a police officer in Los Angeles.
He started at the bottom, loading baggage on the ramp for PSA. His other frontline jobs included fueler and ticket agent. He started in management in 1975 and worked his way to the upper echelons.
"The fact that I've done most of those things, I have a very strong appreciation for what everyone does here," he said. "I think that it allows me to be able to relate to folks better."
The soft-spoken executive, who has two grown sons working for other airlines, is still getting to know America West's operations. He jokes that he's still finding his way to the restroom at the airline's Tempe headquarters.
He has bought a home in Gilbert, but it, too, is bare. He has found the gym and lifts weights every day before work.
Family back East
Crellin says he has mixed emotions about leaving the East Coast. His sons live there, and his wife still spends a lot of time there. At the same time, they have good friends in Arizona. Last year, before the merger was on the radar, the avid golfer looked at buying a vacation home in Anthem.
Crellin is not involved in the community yet but is impressed by the former America West's commitment to causes.
"We did less of that back East," he said. "The difference is night and day at how much more involved America West and Doug and his team have had in the community. I'm very much a proponent of that."
Crellin's top priority is making sure the new US Airways' operations don't slip as the airlines go about the gargantuan task of truly combining everything from flight crews to computer systems. Some things are happening right away, others are a year or two off as the airlines seek a single operating certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Both airlines have had their share of on-time woes and customer complaints in the past 18 months, but recent numbers show improvements, especially at America West.
"What I'd like to be able to do," Crellin said, "is put the airline together and have all the employees be OK and their families be OK and have our airline be successful, and I can leave our industry and feel it was a nice cap for my career."
