Alaska Airlines has appointed Donald Wright as vice president of maintenance and engineering, effective 23 August.

The aviation veteran will assume the role formerly held by Constance von Muehlen, who was appointed as chief operating officer on 3 April.

In his new role, Wright will lead 1,346 employees, including the technical operations team, and oversee the safety, compliance and operational performance of the airline’s mainline Boeing and Airbus fleet.

Wright is joining the company after recently retiring from United Airlines, where he served as vice president of maintenance operations, responsible for more than 6,500 line maintenance employees at 45 stations as well as third-party aircraft maintenance vendors globally.

“Don is a strong strategic leader with a proven track record of operational performance improvement and vast industry experience leading technical operations,” said von Muehlen.

“As a forward thinker in process improvement and a fierce advocate for safety and compliance since his early days as a certificated aircraft technician, I am confident Don will support and lead the maintenance & engineering team to new heights.”