Roger Yu

USA TODAY

United Continental Holdings, the airline operator emerging from a public relations mess related to a passenger dragged off one of its planes, said Friday CEO Oscar Munoz will no longer be promoted as chairman of the board, as once planned.

In amending his work contract, United and Munoz agreed to leave “future determinations related to the chairman position to the discretion of the board,” the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Munoz, who was hired as CEO on September 2015, was expected to be named board chairman next year at the annual stockholder meeting.

In a proxy statement filed with the SEC Friday, United said its board now "believes that separating the roles of chief executive officer and chairman of the board is the most appropriate structure at this time."

"Having an independent Chairman of the Board is a means to ensure that Mr. Munoz is able to more exclusively focus on his role as chief executive officer," it said. "The Board also believes that an independent chairman of the board can effectively manage the relationship between the board and the chief executive officer."

Munoz, 58, has been under fire for his handling of an incident earlier this month in which a passenger was forcibly removed from a United Express flight after refusing to give up his seat to accommodate a United employee.

Munoz initially defended the company’s actions and told employees in an email that the passenger was “disruptive and belligerent.” But he apologized after the video of the incident, which went viral, elicited a flood of angry and critical messages on social media.

About a month after being named United’s CEO, Munoz suffered a heart attack and took medical leave of absence. He returned to work in March 2016 after receiving a heart transplant two months earlier.