The oneworld alliance announced today
that it has appointed Ken Gilbert, a 25-year veteran of oneworld member
American Airlines, as Vice-President Customer Experience and Airports. Gilbert will lead the delivery and development of the alliance’s customer
services, including the final stages of its interline e-ticketing (IET)
program that will be completed in the coming weeks, making oneworld the
first of the global airline alliances with IET in place between all
partners.

Gilbert will also coordinate airport co-location moves by the group’s
member airlines, including their transfer to Madrid’s new Terminal 4 later
this year and the consolidation in London Heathrow’s Terminals 3 and 5
when the latter opens in 2008.

Based at the alliance’s main office in Vancouver and at Dallas/Fort Worth
and reporting to oneworld Managing Partner John McCulloch, Gilbert
succeeds Robert Antoniuk, who left the oneworld Management Company earlier
this month to take up a senior airport operational position with member
airline Cathay Pacific Airways.

At American Airlines, Gilbert played a crucial role in establishing the
alliance during his time as the airline’s Managing Director of Alliance
Implementation, leading his counterparts from the other four founding
partners in developing and launching oneworld in 1999.

He is currently AA’s Managing Director of Corporate Project
Implementation, working on the airline’s employee engagement initiative
and responsible for a number of company-wide activities. He moved to that
role after overseeing the integration into American of TWA, as Managing
Director of TWA Integration Core Team, following its purchase in 2001.

Earlier at American, Gilbert had served as Director of Project Planning
and Implementation in its Airline Management Services unit, handling the
outsourcing to American of various IT and administrative systems for a
number of other carriers.

He was also the first Corporate Director of AA’s Admirals Club airport
lounges, expanding the system worldwide and organizing them into a single,
cohesive unit.

Gilbert joined American in 1979, starting in Human Resources when the
company relocated its headquarters from New York to Dallas/Fort Worth. He
then moved into various analytical and managerial financial positions,
including Financial Controller for the airline’s Marketing division.

Before American, Gilbert worked in retail and, briefly, in cargo pricing
for United Airlines. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and
History from Claremont Men’s College in California and a Master’s in
Business Administration from the University of Chicago.
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