A President is important insofar as it is one of the key officers that most every corporation must have by law.

IMHO, Tague was named president of United for one of two reasons:

1. To facilitate a pay raise; or

2. To prepare United for some sort of corporate transaction -- not necessarily a merger, but perhaps a partial spinoff of United from UAL itself. UAL would need to get key officers --like a President-- in place at United to make that possible.