American Airlines brings in GE veteran to run maintenance bases

American Airlines on Wednesday named a GE executive as vice president of base maintenance, making him the second outsider to take up a major position in American's maintenance area.

William Collins will take up his new job on Oct. 1, moving from vice president of electric power at GE Aviation.

"Collins brings nearly 30 years of engineering, aviation and manufacturing experience to the American Airlines maintenance and engineering team," said Jim Ream, American's senior vice president of maintenance & engineering.

"We will greatly benefit from his vast knowledge of aircraft systems maintenance. I am confident that under his leadership, American Airlines will continue to shine as a leading maintenance, overhaul and repair provider," Ream said.

Ream himself has been on the job only since Jan. 1. He had worked for American Airlines, but left in 1995 to join Continental Airlines. He retired as president and CEO of ExpressJet, which formerly was Continental's regional unit, to rejoin American.

Ream replaced 41-year veteran Carmine Romano.

The maintenance team also includes a relative newcomer: Bill Cavitt, vice president of engineering, performance improvement strategies and quality assurance.

Notably, Ream, Cavitt and Collins all were added after the March-April 2008 debacle in which more than 3,000 AA flights had to be canceled because of maintenance issues on the MD-80 fleet.

Last Wednesday, Aug. 25, the Federal Aviation Administration announced a $24.2 million fine on American for flying airplanes that hadn't been properly inspected and modified. There are other maintenance issues still hanging over the carrier, and the FAA is expected to seek additional fines against American.

The most recent vice president of base maintenance, Fred Cleveland, joined American in January 2008, a few months before the mass groundings. He moved in December 2009 to become American Eagle's senior vice president of technical operations.

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