Airline Maintenance Chief Steps Down

Alaska Airlines’ top maintenance official has taken early retirement as the Seattle-based carrier grapples with criticism and a criminal investigation of its maintenance operations that intensified after the January crash of Flight 261, which killed 88 people. John Fowler, 52, executive vice president for technical operations and systems control, announced his decision Friday. Alaska officials denied Fowler was being made a scapegoat for the airline’s recent troubles. Fowler, Alaska’s third-ranked executive, has been with the airline since 1991, when he was hired as vice president of maintenance and engineering. He was promoted in April 1998.