There aren’t many airline industry leaders that move me to the point of wanting to write a post when they retire, especially not an appreciation post, and NEVER for someone who worked for Alitalia. Glen Hauenstein is the exception. Delta has announced that he will retire as President of the airline at the end of February and stay on as a strategic advisor through the end of the year. Now that Glen’s gotta go, the impact on this industry will be significant.
Alright, so maybe this is a different Glen than the “Glenn” who graced those “Glenn’s Gotta Go” bracelets you see me, Benét Wilson, and Henry Harteveldt wearing at my wedding. So why am I showing it? Well, how often do I get the chance to trot out one of my favorite photos? Not often. But more importantly, I just find it really funny. After all, that Glenn was Glenn Tilton, former CEO of United who had no interest in running an airline. That is the complete opposite of this Glen who loves this industry and is very good at his job.
Glen came up in the industry at Continental where he started in 1987. When he left in 2003, he had been given the gift of seeing the lowest lows and highest highs of that airline’s existence. He rose to the rank of SVP Network for Continental before he left to be Chief Commercial Officer of Alitalia in 2003. I imagine Glen’s time at Alitalia looked a lot like his retirement will… sitting at an Italian villa drinking espresso and not doing much work.
His stay at Alitalia didn’t last long. In August 2005, Glen joined a failing Delta. By mid-September, it had filed for bankruptcy protection, and the turnaround clock had started. The Delta of 2005 is nothing like the airline of today. Domestically, it was a regionally-focused airline with its primary hub in Atlanta and secondary hubs in Cincinnati and Salt Lake City. Delta had an important presence in New York thanks to the Pan Am purchase from the decade before, but it was far from dominant. That and Atlanta made up nearly the entire long-haul operation, and it was not impressive.
Delta Aug 2005 Long-Haul Route Map via Cirium
This was an airline that did not look like it would be one of the winners in the consolidation game, but Glen changed that along with Richard Anderson who arrived as CEO two years later in 2007. From a network perspective, Glen was a visionary willing to make investments that might not pay off immediately. He knew it was the way forward.
He started by overseeing the synthesis of Delta and Northwest after their merger. Cincinnati and Memphis were out, Minneapolis/St Paul and Detroit were in. JFK was built up dramatically, as was LaGuardia which benefited from the cache of slots Delta acquired from US Airways in the DCA slot swap. Los Angeles too became a key focus since it was very clear to him that you had to be big in the biggest cities. With that work done, Glen lead the investment into building up both a Boston and Seattle hub.
The Delta of today has a network that looks nothing like what it did. It is a global powerhouse, and that is even without the inclusion of the joint ventures that Northwest pioneered with KLM and became a key part of the new Delta.
Delta Aug 2026 Long-Haul Route Map via Cirium
It’s probably no surprise that I’ve started off looking at the network, but Glen’s impact on the industry went so much further than that. It’s no wonder that in 2016 he was named the airline’s President.
Glen was behind the vision to make Delta into a true premium airline, something no other US legacy airline had ever done successfully. He made Delta the first US airline with flat beds that had direct aisle access on the entire long-haul fleet. He also led the charge on actually trying to sell seats in First Class instead of just giving them away as upgrades.
This wasn’t just about investing in the airline’s product. It was also about building a true airline brand that would help the airline to weather downturns. There was money being poured into new terminal developments, including massive SkyClub expansions. Every part of the airline was thought through carefully.
He also recognized that this wasn’t just about premium. He built an airline that upgauged aircraft and made room for all types of travelers. Delta, after all, created basic economy on his watch as an effective tool toward competing with all airlines. It was Delta that realized that people who started buying the cheapest fares would likely grow into more premium experiences.
This wasn’t just about spending money like crazy. It was about being shrewd. The airline’s fleet strategy was to utilize older aircraft and find bargains when it could. It knew that it could make the passenger experience good on any aircraft. And let’s not forget about the remarkable transformation of SkyMiles into a revenue powerhouse. Oh sure, it takes a million miles to redeem anything these days, but there is no denying the incredibly financial impact that this has had on the airline and the entire industry.
This may not be the regular snarky post you’d expect from me, and that’s for good reason. There are few in this industry who have had this kind of positive impact over such a long period. Oh sure, there are things that can be criticized. We talked about that on a recent The Air Show podcast when we said Glen didn’t do enough to develop his team and delegate to others to build them up. But context matters. After all, Tom Brady may have won 251 games, but he also lost 82. (I know, I know, I should save Tom Brady references for when Ed Bastian is gone.)
Glen will be turning the reins over to Joe Esposito as EVP and Chief Commercial Officer. Joe has been there for ages, and has as good of a pedigree as anyone. That being said, nobody can fills shoes the size of Glen’s, and it remains to be seen how well Delta will carry on without him.
