Maurice J. Gallagher, Jr.
| Maurice J. Gallagher Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | CEO and Chairman, Allegiant Travel Company |
| Known for | Commercial airline entrepreneur |
| Children | 2 |
Maurice J. Gallagher Jr., also known as Maury Gallagher, is a commercial airline entrepreneur who has been associated with the startup and operation of three airlines, WestAir, ValuJet and Allegiant Air (subsidiary of Allegiant Travel Company), as well as several other non-aviation businesses in the telecommunications and adaptive learning fields. Two of Gallagher's three aviation companies, ValuJet and Allegiant Air, have been associated with safety violations and investigations, with the former being involved in a fatal air crash killing over one hundred people.
Gallagher was a founder of WestAir, which operated from 1978 through 1992. He served as Vice President-Finance of the parent company of WestAirCommuter Holdings, Inc. from 1979 until 1982. From 1983 until August of 1992, he served as an executive and director of WestAir Holding, Inc. until the company was acquired by Mesa Air in May 1992. WestAir functioned as the west-coast commuter/regional airline affiliate of United Airlines. Gallagher also was a member of the investment group that founded ValuJet Airlines, Inc. (one of the predecessors to AirTran Airways, Inc.) and served as a board member of ValuJet from its inception in 1993 until 1997.
A deadly 1996 ValuJet crash killed all 110 passengers on board, an incident from which the company never recovered. In a 1997 report on the incident, the National Transportation Safety Board determined that the probable causes were:
(1) the failure of SabreTech [a ValuJet contractor] to properly prepare, package, and identify unexpended chemical oxygen generators before presenting them to ValuJet for carriage; (2) the failure of ValuJet to properly oversee its contract maintenance program to ensure compliance with maintenance, maintenance training, and hazardous materials requirements and practices; and (3) the failure of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to require smoke detection and fire suppression systems in class D cargo compartments.
Contributing to the accident, the NTSB wrote, was "ValuJet's failure to ensure that both ValuJet and contract maintenance facility employees were aware of the carrier's "no-carry" hazardous materials policy and had received appropriate hazardous materials training."
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