New President for American Airlines

American Airlines’ operations manager Gerard J. Arpey was named president and chief operating officer of the carrier Tuesday, making him a front-runner to eventually succeed Donald J. Carty as chief executive of the world’s largest airline.

Arpey, 43, was American’s executive vice president for operations. He succeeds Carty, 55, who has been chairman, chief executive and president of both the airline and AMR Corp. since 1998. Carty remains president and Arpey an executive vice president of the holding company, respectively.

The chief operating officer’s position at the airline had been vacant.

The recent retirement of AMR’s vice chairman, Bob Baker, created “an opportune moment” to elevate Arpey, a 20-year veteran of American, Carty said. Arpey will continue to oversee most of the Fort Worth-based airline, including its flight and maintenance operations, airport customer service and the carrier’s regional-jet unit American Eagle.

Arpey joined American in 1982 as a financial analyst after he received a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Texas. He became American’s chief financial officer in 1995, and executive vice president of operations in 2000.