John Pope Is Elected UAL’s Vice Chairman

UAL Corp., the parent of United Airlines, has elected John C. Pope vice chairman.

Pope, 41, will give up his title as executive vice president, but will continue as the company’s chief financial officer, and will continue to oversee finance, marketing, planning and management information systems for United, UAL said.

Pope joined the airline in January, 1988, from rival American Airlines, where he was senior vice president and chief financial officer.

Regarded as one of the most astute financial executives in the airline industry, he played an important part in a failed October, 1989, management-employee bid for the airline. Pope received a good deal of blame for the failure of the bid, and many observers thought his job was in jeopardy.

The collapsed $300-a-share offer triggered one of the largest one-day stock market slides in history, and signaled the unraveling of the junk bond market.