Lloyd-Jones Is New President at Western Air

Donald J. Lloyd-Jones, a career airline executive, was named Tuesday as president and chief operating officer of Western Airlines. Lloyd-Jones, 55, succeeds Robin H.H. Wilson, who resigned.

Lloyd-Jones, who most recently had served as a consultant to Western and other companies, was chairman, president and chief executive of the now-defunct Air Florida from 1982 to 1984. He had previously worked for 25 years at American Airlines as vice president-corporate planning, senior vice president and chief financial officer and, finally, as senior vice president for operations, a position that he held for a decade.

“Don Lloyd-Jones’ record speaks for itself,” said Gerald Grinstein, Western’s chairman and chief executive. “He has dealt with all aspects of airline operations during his career and knows our company well from his consulting work over the past two years.”

Wilson had been at Western for 18 months. He had worked for Trans World Airlines for 17 years and, most recently before joining Western, had been president and general manager of the Long Island Railroad until 1985. Both Wilson and Western said that his departure from the company was “amicable” and that he wished to pursue other business interests.

However, one analyst who asked not to be identified said that “the operating team of Grinstein and Wilson wasn’t meshing as smoothly as they thought it would.”

Lloyd-Jones earned his bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College in 1952 and received a master’s degree in 1954 and a doctorate in 1961 from Columbia University. His academic specialties are economics, transportation and marketing.