GE exec to become Delta Air Lines CFO

Dive Brief:

Delta Air Lines has announced that Daniel Janki, a division CEO at General Electric, will be stepping in as CFO on July 12.
Janki will succeed Paul Jacobson, the airline’s longtime CFO who left for General Motors in December after delaying his planned retirement to help the airline manage through the coronavirus outbreak.
Gary Chase, senior vice president of business development and financial planning, and Bill Carroll, senior vice president of finance and controller, had been serving as interim co-CFOs since Jacobson’s departure.

Dive Insight:

Janki has served in finance and leadership roles at GE for nearly thirty years. His titles have included Vice President of GE Investor Relations, CFO of GE Energy Infrastructure, and, most recently, president and CEO of GE Power Portfolio, which housed its Steam Power, Power Conversion and GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy Businesses.

Daniel Janki

Courtesy of Delta Air Lines

As CFO, Janki will oversee financial reporting, the controller organization, corporate audit, financial planning, fleet and TechOps supply chain, fuel management, including Delta’s refinery, investor relations, supply chain management and treasury, the air carrier said in a statement. In addition, corporate strategy will report to him.

“Dan is known for his close working relationship with his teams and a strong customer focus,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian told employees in a memo. “He shares our spirit of innovation and collaboration, and our values of servant leadership, honesty, integrity and respect for all.”

Bastian thanked Chase and Carroll for their leadership while the company searched for Jacobson’s replacement.

“Their collaboration and support of our world-class finance organization has been instrumental in our progression through the recovery,” he said. “I’m proud of the great work of our finance team throughout the pandemic and how they have positioned Delta to emerge stronger.”

Last month, Delta posted a first-quarter $4.15 billion revenue, a 60% drop from the same period in 2019, and a $1.18 billion net loss. Bastian said the company expects positive cash generation for the June quarter, and sees “a path to return to profitability” in the September quarter.

Domestic leisure bookings, by the end of March, had recovered to about 85% of 2019 levels, Bastian told analysts, but international and business travel remained depressed.

Even so, "what's been clear to us is that our business has made a turn," Bastian told CNBC. "We've seen a huge surge in bookings just over the last couple of months."

“With customer demand steadily rising, there is a lot of runway ahead of us as we open our middle seats to booking and corporate and international [travel] begins to recover in earnest,” Bastian said on an earnings call. “Once the recovery of those segments are under way, we expect they'll prove to be a powerful cash and profitability lever to get our business back to where we need it to be. The strength of our balance sheet has been critical, and I'm excited that we are shifting our focus to delivering, which will also be an important accelerator in our recovery.”

“As a longtime frequent flyer and corporate business partner, I have a deep appreciation for Delta’s strong commitment to its customers, and its reliable and trusted service,” Janki, who will work out of Delta’s Atlanta headquarters, said in a statement.

Representatives for Delta and for Janki did not immediately respond to requests for comment.