American Airlines CEO Doug Parker, who announced his retirement in December, formally ended his long career in the top echelon of the U.S. airline industry on Thursday.
His replacement, American Airlines president Robert Isom, will become CEO of the world's largest airline on Friday, April 1. Parker remains as American's chairman.
"Over the past 35 years, I've seen the airline industry change tremendously. And I'm humbled to have been a part of a lot of that change," Parker said in a LinkedIn post Wednesday. "I started my career at American Airlines, and I'm proud to finish my career at American."
Isom said, "I am humbled to have the opportunity to step into the role of CEO for American, especially at such an exciting time for travel."
Parker had been American Airlines CEO since 2013, when he took over the position as part of the US Airways-American Airlines merger. Parker first became an airline CEO in 2001 at America West. He headed US Airways from the time of its 2005 merger with America West until 2013.
The Michigan native is widely regarded as a key architect in the U.S. airline industry consolidation that played out most prominently between 2001 and 2013.
Isom has been American's president since 2016, overseeing operations, planning, marketing, sales, alliances and pricing.