Delta Air Lines has hired the chief executive of GE Power Portfolio to become its next chief financial officer.
Dan Janki will join the Atlanta-based carrier on July 12. He has led GE Power Portfolio, which makes equipment for electric-power plants, since October and has worked at General Electric since 1992.
Janki, 53, will replace two executives who have shared the CFO role at Delta on an interim basis since November — Gary Chase, senior vice president of business development and financial planning, and Bill Carroll, senior vice president of finance and controller.
Chase and Carroll filled in after Paul Jacobson left the airline to become CFO at General Motors. Jacobson originally planned to leave Delta in February 2020, but decided to remain until November to help the carrier navigate the pandemic.
Janki, who lives in Atlanta, will receive a base salary of $650,000, a $1.5 million cash signing bonus, and an initial stock award of $4.5 million.
Delta is still dealing with the effects of the coronavirus as it tries to rebuild its business after air travel plunged. CEO Ed Bastian took a pay cut last year after the airline lost a record $12.4 billion in 2020. Many workers took cuts in hours and total pay of about 25%.
Travel has rebounded, however. About 1.73 million people passed through U.S. airports on Thursday, according to Transportation Security Administration figures. That’s up from about 318,000 passengers a year earlier, though down from about 2.67 million on May 20, 2019.
The airline announced this month that it will require new employees to be vaccinated for COVID-19, though existing workers won’t be forced to get a vaccine.
