Pinnacle hires former Frontier CEO Sean Menke

Pinnacle Airlines Corporation (Memphis) has named Sean E. Menke as its new President and CEO. Menke, a veteran airline executive and Managing Partner at Vista Strategic Group LLC in Denver, Colo., succeeds Philip H. Trenary. He is expected to begin his new duties on July 1, 2011. Menke will also become a member of the company’s board of directors.

According to the holding company, “Mr. Menke, 42, brings 20 years of airline management experience. He was previously Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Republic Airways Holdings Inc. and President and CEO of Frontier Airlines, where he helped position Frontier as one of the lowest cost and most efficient airlines in North America.”

Prior to his senior posts at Republic and Frontier, he was Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at Air Canada; and Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Frontier, where he was also Senior Vice President of Marketing and held Vice President positions in planning and revenue management. Additionally, he held management positions with United Airlines, Western Pacific Airlines and America West Airlines.

Pinnacle Airlines Corporation is a $1 billion airline holding company with 7,800 employees and is the parent company of Pinnacle Airlines, Inc.; Mesaba Aviation, Inc.; and Colgan Air, Inc. Flying as Delta Connection, United Express and US Airways Express, Pinnacle Airlines Corp. operating subsidiaries operate 202 regional jets and 88 turboprops on more than 1,650 daily flights to 196 cities and towns in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Belize.

Copyright Photo: Jay Selman. Please click on the photo for additional information.