Oscar Muñoz, the new CEO of United Continental Holdings Inc., suffered a heart attack Thursday and is being treated at a Chicago hospital, a person familiar with the matter said Friday.
United spokesmen didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Muñoz, 56, is a former Qwest Communications consumer division chief who left the troubled Denver company in 2001. He came to United from CSX Corp.
United directors “are waiting to hear back from his family and his doctors” about the severity of the heart attack, the person said.
They hope to find out the information within the next 24 hours, the person said, and then decide whether the airline needs an interim leader.
“It could be a mild heart attack, and he could be back in two weeks,” the informed individual noted.
Depending on how long Muñoz is disabled, “There are a few (United) executives who could be interim (CEO) for a short period of time,” this person added.
Muñoz’s sudden illness is the second major shock in little more than a month for the world’s second-largest airline by traffic. He was named CEO on Sept. 8 after the abrupt ouster of Jeff Smisek, who had been CEO since the airline was formed by a merger in 2010.
