Astar realigns executive team
Astar Air Cargo promoted Gary Hammes to senior vice president and chief operating officer, the latest in a series of moves by the Miami-based airline to consolidate top executive positions and reduce overhead to fit the company's new structure.
Hammes served under the previous DHL Airways structure as senior director, maintenance and engineering. He replaces Vicki Bretthauer, who did not want to relocate from the company's Barrington, Ill., office near Chicago to Miami, according to Astar spokesman Ray Lutz. Bretthauer's duties as president of the company will be assumed by John Dasburg, the company's chairman and chief executive, who moved the headquarters to Miami when he joined the company in April.
As part of its effort to increase its financial analysis and controls section, the company recently hired a comptroller and named Steve Rossum chief financial officer, adding to his duties as executive vice president, general counsel and head of transactions. Before a Dasburg-led group of investors bought DHL Airways, much of the company's financial reporting was done by part-owner DHL Worldwide Express under a management contract.
Lutz added information technology to his duties as vice president business development and communications in August after the company decided it didn't need to separately hire a chief information officer, he said.