Not a flying bus

There’s an interesting job change at Delta. The airline’s executive vice president for operations and former chief pilot, Joe Kolshak, decided to retire after 20 years. A natural pick for any film casting director to portray a classic firm-jawed, confidence-inspiring pilot, the 50-year-old Joe (right) is going to take it easy. His replacement comes from two other consumer-oriented companies that at first blush don’t seem to have too much in common with the airlines. Steve Gorman will be joining Delta from Greyhound, the only remaining nationwide US bus company - the butt of innumerable jokes about vagrant-filled terminals and the name that's often invoked when flyers want to decry the decline of the airlines with complaints about "flying Greyhound". Before that, Gorman was at Krispy Kreme, the much-liked, cholesterol-rich purveyor of doughnuts and other deep-fried delicacies. Both were troubled franchises, with Greyhound going through a service and image turnaround under Gorman and Krispy Kreme going through a financial crisis that forced it to slim down. But rest easy: Gorman, 52, started out at Northwest Airlines, where he worked with Delta’s new chief executive, Richard Anderson. Gorman has also been non-executive board chairman of Pinnacle, the big regional that serves as a major Northwest Airlink feeder.