United Continental has appointed executive vice president and general counsel Brett Hart as acting CEO while Oscar Munoz takes medical leave following a heart attack late last week.
Munoz was just 40 days into the new role of CEO following the ousting of previous boss Jeff Smisek amid a corruption probe.
Hart joined United in 2010 and in addition to being the company’s legal expert, was responsible for lobbying on government and regulatory affairs.
"I am confident in his ability to continue to implement the company’s strategy and Oscar’s mission of bringing United’s people together," said Henry Meyer, United’s non-executive chairman.
"Brett has taken on increasing responsibility beyond general counsel over the last few years in the operations and customer facing areas of the company," Meyer added.
"Oscar’s agenda is focused on customer service, teamwork and innovation and I, along with the executive team, will continue to move quickly to implement it," Hart said in a statement.
"We believe strongly that we can continue to make steady progress on increasing shareholder value by working together to deliver a great product to our customers."
Meanwhile the family of 56-year old Munoz expect him to make a ‘healthy recovery’ according to an email seen by Reuters.
