ATLANTA, May 15, 2007 – Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) today announced that John Boatright, 56, an industry veteran and former Delta leader, is returning to the company as vice president – Corporate Real Estate. During an aviation career spanning 35 years, Boatright previously held this post, as well as other Delta leadership positions related to corporate real estate, before being named program project officer for the City of Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Development Program.
In his new role, Boatright will manage Delta’s relationships with more than 300 airport locations worldwide and will be responsible for executing long-term plans to improve and expand facilities at Delta’s hubs, including New York-JFK, Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles and Cincinnati.
“Over the past 19 months, Delta has reduced facility costs by more than $120 million, totally redesigned our lobby in Atlanta and made improvements to Terminals 2 and 3 at JFK. While great progress has been made, more needs to be done to offer customers a great experience in all of our airports – particularly in New York,” said Edward H. Bastian, Delta’s executive vice president and chief financial officer. “John’s wealth of experience and vision will help us build on this great momentum.”
Boatright has managed Delta airport and marketing operations in Mexico and Europe; directed Delta’s transition of operations in nearly 50 European cities following the acquisition of PanAm’s trans-Atlantic route system in 1991; planned and developed the $400 million expansion of Delta’s Cincinnati hub in the early 1990s; oversaw the initial development of Delta’s new Terminal A facility at Boston-Logan International Airport in the late 1990s; directed construction for the City of Atlanta’s new fifth runway between 2003 and 2006; and served as founding President and CEO of Americorp Holdings, Inc., which installs healthcare clinics in major airports.
Boatright holds a Master’s in Business Administration degree from Mercer University and a Bachelor’s of Science in Industrial Management from Georgia Southern University. He also has served as an executive board member for the Boy Scouts of America – Atlanta Area Council, as an advisory board member for the United Way, and as chairman of the Air Transport Association’s Airport Affairs committee.
Doug Blissit, previously acting as interim head of Corporate Real Estate and Public Affairs will now focus full-time his duties as vice president – Public Affairs.
Delta Air Lines offers customers service to more destinations than any global airline with Delta and Delta Connection carrier service to 311 destinations in 52 countries. With more than 60 new international routes added in the last year, Delta is adding international flights at a faster rate than any other major U.S. airline and is a leader across the Atlantic with flights to 32 trans-Atlantic destinations. To Latin America and the Caribbean, Delta offers more than 600 weekly flights to 58 destinations. Delta's marketing alliances also allow customers to earn and redeem SkyMiles on nearly 15,000 flights offered by SkyTeam and other partners. Delta is a founding member of SkyTeam, a global airline alliance that provides customers with extensive worldwide destinations, flights and services. Including its SkyTeam and worldwide codeshare partners, Delta offers flights to 462 worldwide destinations in 98 countries. Customers can check in for flights, print boarding passes and check flight status at delta.com.
