Warner Bros. Discovery has filled a key role in its C-suite, hiring the general counsel of American Airlines Group as its chief legal officer.

Priya Aiyar, who had spent five years at the airline, will take over the top role overseeing legal and compliance functions at the studio conglomerate, the company said Friday. Aiyar will succeed Savalle Sims, who had been with CEO David Zaslav’s leadership team at Discovery since 2011.

Sims helped guide Discovery as it navigated a series of major deals, including its $11.9 billion deal for Scripps Networks Interactive, adding HGTV and Food Network to the company’s portfolio, which closed in 2018. And the exec stayed on through the $43 billion megadeal that spun off Time Warner assets from AT&T to Discovery when that merger closed in 2022. The exec exited the role at the end of last year.

At American Airlines, Aiyar oversaw labor relations and worked closely with...