United CEO receives heart transplant

United reiterated Thursday that Mr. Munoz is expected to return by the beginning of the second quarter, and said it would have no comment about criticism of its disclosures.

On Wednesday, United said it expects him back by the end of the first quarter, March 31, or early in the second quarter.

The CEO of United Airlines (NYSE:UAL) underwent a heart transplant. It said Munoz was in recovery and that the transplant wasn’t the result of any setback.

The airline has pursued Munoz’s agenda of rebuilding workers’ morale and improving customer satisfaction, by striking tentative contract deals and improving its on-time performance in his absence.

Some patients use machines called left ventricular assist devices as a temporary measure until a heart becomes available.

‘We are very optimistic about his prospects for a complete recovery’.

The US National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute says recovery from a heart transplant requires up to two weeks of hospitalisation after the procedure and another three months of close monitoring under the best case scenario. The airline said that he was recovering. “We take comfort in the prognosis for Oscar’s full recovery, based both on the report from his medical team and what we have learned about transplants from our own consulting cardiologist”.

Since early December, Munoz had been gradually resuming company-related activities in collaboration with interim CEO Brett Hart.

The company initially disclosed Munoz’s surgery on Wednesday, which caught some investors and analysts off-guard. Approximately 84,000 United employees reside in every USA state and in countries around the world.

Additional information is expected in the next 24 hours.