We’ve strayed a bit off topic from PdeG’s post – “ineptitude of managers !” If a pilot is running an airline, they’re not a pilot, they’re a chief executive! Sure, their original training is that of a pilot, but it’s a whole different set of skills, which have to be learned.
We’re left with the sweeping general question of “can pilots more easily make the transition to airline chief executive than lawyers or accountants (or check in clerks or cabin crew)?” and whatever general answer you give to that, there will always be exceptions.
There are two major factors which dictate what sort of person should be running any business, the first being the stage of that company’s cycle (not the industry’s) and the second the size of the company.
On the first one, there are many external and internal factors affecting a company at any time. Call them the organisational hot potatoes. This may be pilots wage demands, intended expansion of the route network, replacement or disposal of so called elderly or costly aircraft, or whatever else is occupying the attention of the senior management and the board at that time. What is important to remember that the chief exec who is good at dealing with one set of hot potatoes may be absolutely crap at dealing with another set, and therefore could seriously prejudice the airline’s future.
On the second, the chief exec who can successfully grow an airline from scratch to four aircraft will probably not be the right person to grow it from 80 to 100 aircraft.
So, in summary, its necessary for airlines to change CEOs periodically, and there is no one group of people who have some divine right to be airline CEOs. Its not a group who’re running the airline, but an individual, and they should be selected as being the best person available at the time. It also follows that those who have sucessfully grown airlines in the past few years may not be the best people to be at the helm at present.