Newsmaker: Lagow Leaves USAir In Sudden Retirement

USAir confirmed last week the unexpected retirement of its number-three man, executive vice president W. Thomas Lagow. The airline gave no reasons for the move, which is effective at the end of this month. Lagow, who has worked for airlines for almost 30 years, could not be reached for comment. Sources speculated that he may be in the running for the top job at TWA.

Lagow, 55, joined USAir in 1992 after working under current USAir CEO Stephen Wolf for almost four years at United. Wolf joined USAir in early 1996, and there has been no public indication of dissension between the two. "Tom has been a valuable contributor to USAir and we wish him the best in his retirement," Wolf said.

Lagow is largely responsible for USAir's recent surge in innovation on the sales and marketing side, for which he was named to BTN's list of 25 most influential executives in the business travel industry for 1995.

In an interview for that award, Lagow gave some thoughts on the future of the airline industry. "I am of the opinion that consolidation will eventually occur because carriers will never lose that objective of expanding the destination breadth of their product," he said. "Such consolidations are natural."

Addressing industry profitability, Lagow said, "it's clear that over the last 15 years, there has been a continual gravitation toward equilibrium. For the first time in a long time, unit costs are going down without capacity going up."

A USAir spokesman said he did not know if anybody would replace Lagow.