COO John Spanjers To Succeed Sean Menke As CEO Effective June 1

Pinnacle Airlines announced a leadership transition under which John Spanjers, currently chief operating officer of the company, will succeed Sean Menke as chief executive officer, effective June 1, 2012. Spanjers has been COO at Pinnacle since September 2011, and was president of Mesaba Aviation prior to joining Pinnacle.

Menke has chosen to resign from the company on June 1 and will work closely with Spanjers and the other members of Pinnacle's leadership team to support a seamless transition over the next five weeks. Pinnacle does not anticipate this transition will impact the timeline of the company's Chapter 11 proceedings or Pinnacle's ability to successfully restructure and emerge from Chapter 11.

"John brings a strong and proven track record of airline leadership," said Donald J. Breeding, Chairman of the Board of Pinnacle Airlines Corp in a statement Thursday.  "Given his prior Chapter 11 experience, John is particularly well-suited to lead Pinnacle's ongoing turnaround efforts and has been actively involved in many of the key initiatives and negotiations during our restructuring process."

"Pinnacle has very talented employees and a strong leadership team, and we remain focused on successfully emerging from Chapter 11," said Spanjers. "Our operating performance has remained strong since filing for Chapter 11 protection, and we expect that our operations, supported by a deep bench of talent and committed employees, will continue moving forward."

As of Menke's departure on June 1, Pinnacle expects to have achieved a number of important restructuring objectives during the initial 60 days of its Chapter 11 proceedings, including having:

• Renegotiated key business agreements with Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and EDC;
• Obtained final approval of its debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing;
• Completed the Section 1110 aircraft process;
• Received final court approval of its "First Day motions" to help the company continue to operate in the ordinary course; and,
• Initiated a collegial and collaborative relationship with the Unsecured Creditors Committee and its advisors.

Additionally, the previously-announced search for a new Chief Financial Officer is progressing.

In an internal memo forwarded to ANN from a source who wishes to remain anonymous, Menke wrote "My decision to step down was not an easy one. But ultimately the June 1 timing should get us beyond important milestones in our Chapter 11 proceedings and keep Pinnacle on track to successfully restructure and emerge from this process.
 
"The milestones we have either achieved or anticipate achieving by June 1 include; renegotiating key business agreements with Delta, United and EDC, obtaining final court approval of our debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing, completing the section 1110 aircraft process and receiving final court approval on our “first day motions” to help us continue to operate in the ordinary course. We have also initiated a collaborative working relationship with our unsecured creditors committee (UCC) and its advisors which will be vital going forward."

FMI: www.pinnaclerestructuring.com