JetBlue today announces the appointment of William Cade as the carrier’s new vice president, technical operations. Cade joins JetBlue early next month to oversee the airline’s maintenance, materials, quality, engineering and technical purchasing functions. He will be based in Long Island City, N.Y., and report to Warren Christie, JetBlue’s senior vice president, safety, security & fleet operations.

A 30-year industry veteran, Cade most recently served as vice president, base technical operations for American Airlines, responsible for multiple heavy maintenance bases along with global heavy maintenance vendor and support shop operations. Cade has held several leadership roles at American serving as technical operations managing director for various regions for over 15 years.

Prior to American Airlines, Cade worked at Trans World Airlines holding numerous positions, including director maintenance in Los Angeles. Cade began his aviation maintenance career with Pan American World Airways as a sheet metal mechanic and is a licensed Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) technician.

“Bill’s vast experience will be a great asset to JetBlue as we set up our technical operations team for continued success and achieve our structural cost commitments,” said Christie. “Bill has a track record of inspiring large teams while instilling world-class industry technical standards and maintaining the highest levels of safety and compliance.”

Cade added: “It’s an honor to be working with some of the most committed and skilled technical operations professionals in the industry. I am excited to help continue growing the special culture for crewmembers and delivering the great JetBlue experience to customers.”