SALT LAKE CITY -- Mayor Rocky Anderson fired the airport director on Wednesday.

Roy Williams came to Salt Lake City International Airport barely five months ago, after heading up the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.

Anderson called the firing regrettable, saying he had been looking to maintain stability at an airport where the previous director, Tim Campbell, held his job for seven years.

"However, after a thorough investigation, including feedback from all members of senior management staff, it was clear to me and to the Airport Board that we had no choice but to urgently replace Mr. Williams with someone who can provide team-building, accessible, competent leadership at the citys airports," Anderson said in a statement late Wednesday.

The mayor added, "Over the years, we have built an extraordinary team of highly skilled managers, who have demonstrated consistently their loyalty to our airports and to Salt Lake City.

To preserve that management team, and to preserve airport resources, decisiveness in making a change at the Executive Director level was necessary."

Campbell had left Salt Lake City to become executive director of the Maryland Aviation Administration, overseeing Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

Williams and business and state leaders had been lobbying Delta Air Lines to operate a direct flight to Paris from Salt Lake City. Williams had assessed the odds that would happen anytime soon as a "long shot."

Russ Pack, who recently retired from the airport, will take over as acting director, Anderson spokesman Patrick Thronson said.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page C2.