James Ream to Return to American Airlines as SVP - Maintenance & Engineering

James Ream, President and CEO of ExpressJet, will become American Airlines' Senior Vice President of Maintenance & Engineering, effective 1 January 2010. Ream succeeds Carmine Romano, who is retiring after 41 years with American Airlines.

Ream will oversee all of American's maintenance operations worldwide, including its major repair, overhaul and modification bases in Fort Worth, Texas, Tulsa, Okla., and Kansas City, Mo. This includes the more than 12,000 American Airlines maintenance employees who support a fleet of more than 600 aircraft.

During the past eight years, Ream has led ExpressJet, a company with 244 aircraft flying under the Continental Express brand, as well as corporate and charter flights. Prior to that, he spent seven years at Continental Airlines, where he served as President and Chief Operating Officer for Continental Express Airlines. In a previous stint at American Airlines, between 1987 and 1995, Ream worked in various positions of increasing responsibility in the corporate purchasing, financial planning, capital planning, and finance groups.

Ream's aviation career began with his time serving in the U.S. Army as a helicopter mechanic and crew chief. He earned an associate of science degree in Aviation Maintenance and holds FAA certificates as an Airframe & Powerplant mechanic and private pilot. He also holds a bachelor of science degree in Operations Management from San Diego State University and a master's in Business Administration from Northwestern University.

Carmine Romano began his AA career as a line mechanic in New York and concluded it as the airline's top Maintenance & Engineering executive. Along the way, he worked as an aircraft maintenance technician, a production supervisor on widebody products, a production manager on Boeing 747s and DC-10s, a product manager for MD-80s, Managing Director over Fokker 100 maintenance and later other aircraft types, and Vice President for Base Maintenance before being named to his current position in 2007.

"Carmine has played a major role in establishing American Airlines as a leader in airline maintenance operations and engineering," said Gerard Arpey, American's Chairman and CEO. "His hard work, leadership, and commitment to continuous improvement have made us a better, more effective airline. Moreover, his devotion to our company and its people have helped us buck the industry trend of outsourcing maintenance to other countries and keep thousands of maintenance jobs in the United States. I know I speak for the entire company in thanking Carmine for his important contributions to our airline and wishing him the best in his retirement."

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