An experienced airline executive as well as a commercial airline pilot and corporate attorney, David Pflieger <http://www.eturbonews.com/20992/hollywood-star-or-air-pacific-ceo> began his career at the United States Naval Academy. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science and was one of only five graduates to be chosen to cross-commission into the United States Air Force. After eight years of service on active duty, Pflieger joined the Air National Guard and later the Air Force Reserve, and also earned an MBA and Juris Doctor with distinction from Emory University in Atlanta.
Following receipt of his advanced degrees, David Pflieger <http://twitter.com/davidpflieger> joined the law firm of King & Spalding in Atlanta as an Associate Attorney. The following year, he received an offer to join Delta Air Lines, Inc., as its Operations Attorney, earning a promotion just three years later to Director of Flight Safety. Having distinguishing himself in that role, Pflieger was selected a year later in 2002 to join the executive team that launched Delta's new low-cost subsidiary, Song, LLC. In addition to becoming the new airline's Vice President of Operations, Pflieger captained the inaugural B757 flight of the new carrier from New York to West Palm Beach, and his work in operations helped the airline win recognition in TRAVEL + LEISURE magazine as one of the top 5 U.S. domestic airlines.
In 2004, David Pflieger was recruited to assist in the launch of another low-cost airline, Virgin America, Inc. <http://www.virginamerica.com/> , and two years later, he flew as a Captain on his second inaugural flight, this time in an A320 from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco. As a founding corporate officer of this San Francisco-based airline, Pflieger was promoted from an operations role to Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and leader of the Company's environmental sustainability efforts. Work by Pflieger and his 1500 colleagues at Virgin America ultimately led to the airline's winning TRAVEL + LEISURE magazine's award for "Best Domestic Airline" in 2008, 2009, and 2010.
In mid 2010, David Pflieger was selected to become the new CEO and Managing Director of Air Pacific Ltd, Fiji's national airline. Since then, David Pflieger has restructured the airline and its network, assembled a new management team, dramatically improved customer satisfaction, and returned the airline to profitability. He was also selected to become the Chairman of Fiji's national tourism organization, Tourism Fiji, in 2011.
* David Pflieger's Behance <http://www.behance.net/davidpflieger>
* David Pflieger on Youtube <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPg8MXmdz2Q/>