My First 30 Days from COO Robert Isom
A month has flown by since I joined the US Airways team as chief operating officer. In
my first 30 days, I’ve received a warm welcome from employees who are excited to make
improvements to our operation. And I’ve already witnessed a number of momentous
events: the move to a single operating certificate, a strong turn-around in operating performance
and a major schedule change in PIT.
I’ve had the pleasure of traveling to several cities – focusing mainly on the hubs – and
have met many of you. My travels and employee encounters have confirmed what I had
hoped for when hired: the people at US Airways really want to be part of a success story
and are willing to take on just about any challenge that they encounter.
I’ve also spent some time reviewing the findings of internal and external teams who have
observed our operation, gathering input from employees, and developing recommendations
to help us make a critical turnaround. We plan to share a comprehensive plan which
includes many of their recommendations with you in the near future, and in the meantime,
I’m learning from their reports and working to implement obvious improvement initiatives.
But you’re probably looking for specifics as far as “what’s next,†and that’s my purpose for
this letter. I’d like to share with you my priorities and focus areas to give you an idea of what’s on my mind and what’s
in store for the operation.
Priorities
Our top priority is a monumental one – improve our DOT performance measures: on-time, baggage and complaints.
No doubt, none of us is content with ranking at or near the bottom, month after month. Our Hat Trick program hasn’t
paid off in months and I know that we all aspire to much better.
But, we’re not going to get there without a coordinated, comprehensive operating plan, which we’re lacking right now.
To that end, I’ve enlisted the help of the leaders of the operational groups to create a plan so that we can all begin
moving in the same direction. All aspects of our operation – mainline and Express – and all departments, work groups
and outside partners need to be aligned around this plan and a set of specific performance targets if we really want to
improve our customers’ perception of our product.
We’ll use a lot of the great work that’s currently in progress as foundation, and build a short-, medium- and long-term
plan that focuses on four areas:
People: We need to make sure we have sufficient staffing levels, that our people are effectively trained to deliver
operational excellence and superior service, and are assigned appropriately to complete all necessary functions.
Processes: We will re-evaluate all operational and customer processes to ensure they are optimally designed and
consistently executed.
Tools and Resources: We’ll make sure that all of our employees have what they need to deliver the results our
customers expect and deserve.
Technology: Updating our customer-facing and behind-the-scenes technology will allow us to operate more efficiently
and improve our customers’ experiences. cont’d on next page
Prioritizing many new initiatives with our projects already in progress will ensure that we build to the kind of performance
that we can all be proud of. It’s really important to have this plan fully vetted and rolled out for execution by
December to help guide us as we set budgets and objectives for 2008.
In addition to a coordinated plan – indeed, key to that plan – is a talented management team. As you know, Senior VP,
Customer Service Anthony Mulé recently retired, leaving an important position vacant. Currently an internal and external
search is taking place so we can fill that position as soon as possible. The ideal candidate will have great airport
operating experience, preferably from a major domestic hub. In the meantime, all of Anthony’s direct reports will report
to me. This is a great way for me to get an appreciation of the many talents these leaders bring to our organization and
an understanding of some of our greatest challenges.
Improving performance in the PHL hub is also among our top priorities. Operating success here is critical to US
Airways’ future. PHL’s leadership team – the folks who know it best – suggested a comprehensive fix-it plan that will
require process change, investment and management re-enforcement. All of our staff in PHL deserves applause for
making good progress in a very difficult operating environment. But after all of our challenges in PHL, I believe we can
really get the operation to where we want it if we make appropriate investments in personnel, tools and focus. Look for
more detail on some of the things we’re working on in PHL soon.
The Fundamentals
While we focus on these priorities, there are a number of imperatives that we need to stress to run the airline better:
D0. We’ve learned from employees, management and outsiders that our performance goals are unclear – is it D5?
A14? D0? On-time means on-time, so let’s focus on the latter and what we can best control – D0. Look for all of
our reports and metrics to focus on this critical measure from here on out. The DOT will continue reporting A14;
however we’re going to aim higher with D0.
Hubs. So go the hubs, so goes the airline. To support success in the hubs the rest of us need to be nearly perfect.
CLT, PHL and PHX have to be the focus of our immediate efforts and, having spent time in all three, I have
great confidence that we can run excellent hubs.
OCC. It’s essential for us to re-establish strong, objective and decisive command and control for the airline – and
it really needs to be led by this group.
Teamwork. Working together with respect and collaboration is the only successful approach when trying to run
something as complex and interdependent as an airline like ours.
Safety and Security. This underscores all that we do. Paul Morell, our VP of Safety & Regulatory Compliance,
made a great point to me the other day: while we have to have an extreme focus on safety and security, it’s really
all about making sure that we do what we’re supposed to do day in and day out. That type of focus will not only
keep us safe and secure, but will also pay dividends in all other aspects of operations performance.
I hope to meet many of you as I travel the system and I welcome your input and questions. I know that if we’re all
aligned in the same direction that we can do great things, and I look forward to sharing many successes with all of you.
All the best,
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