Ed Stewart: US Air's charm offensive

By Mitchell Schnurman

mschnurman@star-telegram

American Airlines has another reason to get all defensive: US Airways has hired happy guy Ed Stewart as a spokesman for North Texas.

Stewart was the long-time public face of Southwest Airlines, a fun-loving complement to fun-loving Herb Kelleher. During the debate over the Wright Amendment, Stewart would turn American’s tortured arguments into punch lines.

When American created an anti-Wright campaign called Stop-and-Think, a reporter called Stewart for a reaction.

“This only makes us stop and think about how desperate American Airlines has become,” he told the Star-Telegram at the time. “Or stop and think that we still have airfares as expensive as mortgages because there's no competition.”

Kelleher changed hearts and minds about Wright, both at home and in Washington. And Stewart worked as an amplifier. Reporters loved him, because he’d go unplugged – and on the record.

Since leaving Southwest in 2006, he’s held top PR positions at Ticketmaster and Delta, and is a senior vice president at Fleishman-Hillard in Dallas. He announced his new gig on Facebook last night with a photo of him in front of a US Air counter.

"At the airport again, but more importantly, back in the airline game,” Stewart wrote. “This one is going to be a lot of FUN! :-)”

US Air has hired Fleishman, and Stewart said that he would be spokesman for the region. Asked if he would be diplomatic, he told Terry Maxon : “You can expect that classic Ed Stewart in its pure form.”

It must feel familiar, squaring off against American. He’ll argue that an AA-US Air merger would be good for everyone and that US Air execs should manage it, because they’ve been leading the charge. And because they have labor on board.

It’s a good, strong argument, and in his career, Stewart has usually been on the right side of those. Maybe that’s why he makes the job look so easy.

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