Bill Ayer, chairman and CEO of Alaska Airlines, will retire in May and Brad Tilden, now president of Alaska Airlines, will succeed him while remaining in his same position. Ayer has spent three decades at Air Group, including 10 years as CEO. In addition to serving as chairman of Air Group and its subsidiary boards, Ayer will participate as a member of the NextGen Advisory Committee, a panel of aviation industry leaders who are working with the FAA to modernize the nation's air traffic control system and improve airport and airspace efficiency.

Tilden joined Alaska Airlines from Price Waterhouse in 1991. He was promoted to Air Group's chief financial officer in 2000; to executive vice president, planning and finance in 2007; and to president of Alaska Airlines in 2008. As president, Tilden has overseen the nation's seventh-largest airline, with 9,500 employees and 119 aircraft serving 61 destinations across the continental United States and in Alaska, Hawaii, Canada and Mexico.