FORT WORTH, Texas — American Airlines Group announced today that Priya Aiyar will join the airline as Senior Vice President and General Counsel, succeeding Paul Jones, who retired from American earlier this year.

“We are thrilled to welcome Priya to American Airlines,” said Steve Johnson, American’s Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs. “Priya is an outstanding lawyer and an extraordinary intellect, and her strategic perspective, integrity, energy, unique experience, passion for the law, and demonstrated ability to build and inspire teams make her the perfect person to lead our legal strategy and team over the coming years. We remain focused on evolving our culture and attracting the best and brightest to American and, in both respects, we could not have found a better person.”

“We are enormously proud of what Paul and our terrific legal team have accomplished,” continued Johnson. “I’m looking forward to working with Priya to build on that work and take us to the next level.”

In this role, Aiyar will lead American’s Legal Affairs team and its legal strategies. This includes the company’s corporate governance, securities and corporate finance, business and commercial, litigation, competition and antitrust, compliance, privacy, environmental, employment, and intellectual property legal issues and work.

Aiyar joins American from Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, where she has been a partner, and brings more than 18 years of government and private sector experience. She served as Acting General Counsel and Deputy General Counsel for the U.S. Department of the Treasury as well as Deputy General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Energy. Earlier in her career, Aiyar held senior legal roles within the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and the Federal Communications Commission, and was a partner at Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel PLLC. She began her legal career as a clerk to Judge Merrick Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and to Justice Stephen Breyer of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Aiyar holds a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School, a master’s degree from the University of Oxford and a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University.