Toshbaf

The past CEO of United has died.

United Airlines Chief Tried to Create a One-Stop Travel Shop - WSJ

Ferris wanted a one-stop shop; United Airlines / Hertz car rental / Hilton / Westin / Apollo reservation system. It could have worked but needed a lot longer time than shareholders gave it. The name, Allegis, was stupid, though. UAL was better.

Ferris died at age 85 of the neurological disease, ALS.

EWR764

He presided over an extraordinarily tumultuous period at United, as the late 70s-80s were for all airlines, though it was one that set the stage for the fundamental transformation of United from a domestic powerhouse to a premier worldwide international carrier. The Pan Am Pacific transaction, 1985 pilot strike and acquisitions of the component parts of the failed Allegis endeavor were driven chiefly by Ferris. That set in motion a chain of events, including the Allegis breakup, that led ultimately to the 1993 ESOP and culminated in the UAL Corp bankruptcy. Truly consequential.

Ferris and Frank Lorenzo (supported by the likes of their progeny: Wolf, Bethune, Tilton and Smisek) were the unwitting big-picture architects of what became the United Airlines of today.

lincolnjkc

RIP. He was well before my time but features prominently in the later parts of one of my favorite aviation books (and favorite books in general): Hard Landing: The Epic Contest for Power and Profits That Plunged the Airlines into Chaos by Thomas Petzinger, Jr. -- even though it ends in 1996 (really wish there was a follow up) I re-read it every time I start to wonder how the commercial side of aviation got where it is.

With the tight alignment of Hertz and Marriott a couple years ago (and with CO owning its wedge of SHARES) I was wondering if we were going to see "Allegis v2.0" ala AT&T