Way Clear for Checchi to Take NWA Reins

NWA Inc. said Thursday that Chairman Steven Rothmeier and four other top executives have resigned, clearing the way for Los Angeles investor Alfred A. Checchi to become chairman of the parent of Northwest Airlines.

Frederic Malek, a Washington investment banker who helped Checchi in the $3.65-billion buyout of the nation’s fourth-largest carrier, will become president of Northwest, the airline said in a statement.

“I suspect that Mr. Checchi was surprised by the resignations but . . . they were private discussions,” NWA spokesman Alan Muncaster told a news conference at the airline’s headquarters. “I was surprised.”

Muncaster said Checchi was informed Wednesday of the resignations, which take effect Oct. 15. He said Checchi and Malek will share the duties of chief executive, a post Rothmeier had held alone.

“I don’t know how long they’ve been thinking” about resigning, Muncaster said of Rothmeier and the other officers. “I don’t know what their thought process was. I don’t know if they really got together and said ‘All right, we’re all going to do this on the same day.’ ”

Muncaster said there were no indications that Checchi’s chairmanship would be temporary. While conceding that Checchi and Malek have never run an airline, Muncaster said they have extensive experience in consumer, service-oriented businesses.

Neither Checchi nor Rothmeier appeared at the news conference and neither immediately could be reached for comment Thursday.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Samuel K. Skinner, who is considering approval of the buyout, had no advance warning of the resignations, Muncaster said. He said it was too early to tell whether the changes would affect approval.

Checchi led a Los Angeles-based investment group that purchased Northwest in June, topping several other reported bidders.

Speculation at the time was that Malek, who was a finalist in December, 1987, for the top job at United Airlines, would replace Rothmeier as chief executive. But Checchi repeatedly said he wanted Rothmeier to continue to lead the airline.

Rothmeier oversaw the 1986 acquisition of Republic Airlines and led management’s fight against a hostile takeover bid of Northwest launched early this year by oil billionaire Marvin Davis.

The takeover battled ended in June when Checchi’s group completed its all-cash buyout of the carrier for $121 a share. Rothmeier said at the time that he considered Checchi’s group to be friendly.

In March, NWA’s board approved a severance package that would pay Rothmeier more than $2 million if he were to leave the airline. His term as chairman was marked by long contract battles with the airline’s three principal unions, but all three groups now are under long-term pacts.

Also resigning were John Horn, president and chief operating officer; Benjamin G. Griggs Jr., executive vice president of NWA Cos.; Allan Pray, executive vice president-international, and William Sitter, executive vice president-administration and chief information officer.