Howard Attarian Tasked With Coordinating Flight Standards

United Airlines announced this week that Howard Attarian has been named vice president of Flight Operations. In this role, Attarian will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of United's Flight Operations division, including pilot domiciles, flight standards and flight technical.

"Captain Attarian brings more than three decades of aviation experience to United, including many years in ALPA leadership positions, making him well suited to lead our 6,600 professional aviators," said Joe Kolshak, senior vice president-Operations for United. "Howard's past experience will be an asset to us as we continue to build our company's competitive position in this economic environment."

Attarian joins United after serving as a pilot for Northwest Airlines for 23 years. Throughout Attarian's career at Northwest he served in several officer positions with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), where he played a key leadership role in contract negotiations.

Most recently, Attarian served for eight years as the executive administrator to the president of the Air Line Pilots Association International, where he led several projects to merge ALPA's six pilot groups, as well as serving as a key adviser in the collective bargaining negotiations for Northwest, Delta, Alaska, US Airways and United.

Attarian is also a highly decorated and retired commissioned officer and aviator in the US Air Force. He was once a pilot on the renowned US Air Force "Thunderbirds Demonstration Squadron."

Attarian will assume his role September 1, and will report to Kolshak. He will be based at United's operations center in suburban Chicago.

FMI: www.united.com