Southwest Airlines has a new chairman.
The new chairman, Doug Brooks, has been a member of the Southwest board since 2010 and is a former CEO of the multinational restaurant chain Brinker International. He has replaced Rakesh Gangwal, the co-founder of IndiGo, who took over the board chairmanship last November.
Southwest also set up a fleet committee to assist the board in its oversight of the company's fleet acquisition strategy, a move that comes as Southwest has signaled that it is as least considering expanding beyond its all-Boeing 737 fleet to enable long-haul operations.
Southwest said that Gangwal stepped down due to new time commitments unrelated to Southwest. He remains on the board and will chair the new fleet oversight committee.
The transition atop Southwest comes as the airline pushes forward on its business transformation. Southwest this week began selling assigned seats and extra-legroom seats for flights starting Jan. 27. In late May, it added bag fees and began selling a no-frills basic economy fare for the first time.
In its earnings call, Southwest said it was on track to achieve incremental earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) this year of $1.8 billion from its new revenue and cost-saving initiatives. But the airline also downgraded its full-year EBIT forecast by as much as 65%, or $1.1 billion.
Elliott Investment Management, the activist hedge fund that selected five members of the 13-person Southwest board last fall in exchange for giving up a threatened proxy challenge, issued a statement supporting the transition of board leadership.
"We remain confident in Southwest's trajectory, and we look forward to continuing our constructive engagement as the company executes its plan to drive long-term value," Elliott said.
During the earnings call last week, CEO Bob Jordan said that more changes will be coming. One possibility he noted is flying long-haul routes with new aircraft types.
The fleet oversight committee would review any related acquisition strategy.