Executive referrals?
I'm not sure about that term, but I am pretty sure that folks getting the interviews right now do have referrals from someone in the company. Not necessarily from an executive, but definitely from a pilot or some other employee, perhaps an executive. Its pretty hard to get an interview here without a referral from somebody, but I imagine its happened. The more folks backing you and willing to walk your resume into the boss's office the better, that is for sure.
Good luck.
FJ