NATION

Harold J. (Hap) Pareti, president and chief operating officer of People Express Airlines Inc., said he has resigned, effective immediately, “to pursue other business interests.”

The resignation was something of a surprise to the airline industry because Pareti is one of the five founders of the nation’s most rapidly growing post-deregulation carrier.

Russell Marchetta, a spokesman for the Newark, N.J.-based airline, said Pareti “was not fired. We want to get that point across. There was no friction.”

Donald C. Burr, chairman of the firm, expressed his appreciation for Pareti’s contributions and said he wished him well.

Pareti and Burr, both former executives of Texas International Airlines, helped found People Express in April, 1980. Along with Burr, co-founders Robert McAdoo, chief financial officer, and Melrose K. Dorsey, managing director, still remain at People Express. The fifth founder, Robert Gitner, became president of the new airline but left in 1982 and is now vice chairman of Pan American World Airways.