News Briefs & Releases

Capt. Don Gunther Appointed Commercial Aviation Safety Team Co-Chair

press contact

Alexis Allen
(703) 358-1075

Alison Duquette
(202) 267-8674

WASHINGTON, Dec. 4, 2007 - The Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) today announced the appointment of Capt. Don Gunther, Continental Airlines senior director - Safety & Regulatory Compliance as its incoming Industry Co-Chair. Gunther succeeds Capt. Hank Krakowski, formerly of United Airlines, who recently became chief operating officer of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Air Traffic Organization.

The Air Transport Association of America (ATA), which represents the airline industry members of CAST, led the process that resulted in the selection of Gunther.

"Capt. Gunther brings a wide array of operational and safety experience to the CAST team," said ATA Vice President of Operations and Safety Basil Barimo. "Don has been instrumental in helping the industry improve its safety record and we look forward to many more contributions from him."

A native of southern California, Gunther graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1971, and flew Naval Reserve aircraft for 20 years. Hired by Continental Airlines in 1977, he has qualified as both a captain & instructor pilot. His corporate management responsibilities include flight safety, ground safety, regulatory issues, the internal audit program, workers’ compensation and medical programs. In addition, he supervises crucial companywide voluntary safety reporting systems. Gunther’s team developed innovative Threat & Error Management (TEM) training programs, now endorsed by worldwide aviation authorities.

Capt. Gunther has served as chairman of the ATA Human Factors Committee and as a member of the FAA Voluntary Safety Information Sharing (VSIS) Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC). He is currently a member of the Flight Safety Foundation Board of Governors and will assume the position of chairman of the ATA Safety Council in January of 2008.

CAST represents key commercial aviation stakeholders acting cooperatively to lead the worldwide aviation community to the highest levels of global commercial aviation safety by focusing on voluntary adoption of prioritized safety enhancements. Leveraging the expertise of government agencies, manufacturers, labor associations and airline management, CAST is a unique venue with a highly structured methodology for managing safety risks. Building on its success over the last decade in reducing the fatality risk in commercial air travel by 83 percent, CAST will use newly available data to identify future threats to aviation safety.