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United Continental (UAL) Unit CFO Andrew Levy Calls it Quits

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United Continental Holdings, Inc.’s (UAL - Free Report) wholly owned subsidiary United Airlines announced Gerry Laderman as the acting chief financial officer (CFO) following the resignation of Andrew Levy. United Airlines will soon begin looking for Levy’s permanent replacement.

Laderman was hitherto serving as the senior vice president of finance, procurement and treasurer plus a member of the senior executive leadership team. In the past, he held legal and financial positions for around 30 years and will continue working on the company’s financial strategy, cost management, capital allocation as well as balance sheet optimization.

Levy joined United Airlines in August 2016, previously having served in the discount carrier Allegiant Travel Company (ALGT - Free Report) . Since the last couple of years, growth of low cost carriers such as Spirit Airlines, Inc. (SAVE - Free Report) and Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV - Free Report) has been posing a threat to the legacy airlines like United Airlines. Given his expertise in low-fare flights, United Airlines introduced air tickets at cheaper rates (Basic Economy Fares) to combat this challenge.

It now remains to be seen how Laderman deals with the situation given his lack of experience in the low-fare category.


Moreover, since the past few years, United Airlines has been in a soup, drawing a lot of flak. The April 2017 passenger fiasco, which saw a flyer being offloaded from an overbooked flight, had sparked a large-scale customer criticism and significantly affected the stocks’ value as well. Earlier this March, the carrier was again portrayed in a bad light when three consecutive unpleasant pet-related incidents took place over a short span. One such tragic event caused the death of a passenger’s pet.

Despite such setbacks, this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company has consistently bounced back. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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