William E. "Skip" Barnette Appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Caribbean Star and Ca
FT LAUDERDALE, FL, September 7, 2005. Caribbean Star Airlines Limited and Caribbean Sun Airlines Inc. today announced the appointment of William E. "Skip" Barnette, most recently President of Atlantic Southeast Airlines, a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Airlines, to the position of President and Chief Executive Officer, effective September 1, 2005. Mr. Barnette will report to R. Allen Stanford, Chairman.
Under Mr. Barnette's leadership, Atlantic Southeast Airlines has grown from a company of less than 3,000 employees and 17 regional jets to one with more than 5,800 employees and a modern fleet of 139 CRJs. The airline's maintenance cancellation rate has been reduced by a factor of six to 0.4 percent and its on-time arrivals have risen from just 50 percent to nearly 80 percent.
A highlight of Mr. Barnette's 35-year career, during which he rose from the position of cargo handler with Delta through a wide range of operating and marketing assignments, was his leadership of the launch of the airline's entry into the low-cost market via Delta Express in 1996. As managing director of the project, Mr. Barnette led a team that turned 24 aircraft into a functioning airline-within-an-airline in just six months.
Mr. Barnette also reorganized Delta's Atlanta Worldport, the world's largest single-airline operation, implementing a new vision, strategy and business plan for the operation designed to improve quality of customer service, reduce operating costs and provide a platform for additional growth.
Mr. Stanford stated, "Skip Barnette brings the precise qualifications needed to further accelerate Caribbean Star's and Caribbean Sun's already explosive growth and achieve our vision of becoming the World's Best Airlines. He has consistently demonstrated the ability to build regional airline operations into efficient, high-quality performers in a difficult business environment by instilling a company-wide commitment to first-class customer service. We look forward to his repeating this performance at our airlines."
Mr. Barnette said, "Caribbean Star and Caribbean Sun are poised to take the next step toward leadership in our industry. Allen Stanford and his team have done a tremendous job in establishing growth, strengthening management, making key investments in new facilities, equipment and training, and developing a team spirit among the airline's employees. I look forward to working with the entire Caribbean Star and Caribbean Sun teams in taking this effort, and the airlines' outstanding record of growth and service, to a new level."
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