Jul 20 2020

Before the pandemic American Airlines underperformed the industry. They had more debt and lower profit margins. They had managed to alienate customers, employees, and investors alike. Their own data shows they had chased away frequent flyers.

When American Airlines lost their LATAM partnership last fall the floodgates of criticism finally opened. People were openly asking how the Board of Directors could abide a plummeting share price and broken operation at an airline which seemed strategically adrift?

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May 31 2020

This morning I covered a fantastic story about an interaction between American Airlines CEO Doug Parker and a Southwest Airlines flight attendant, where they connected over issues of race and the challenges confronting our country right now. This story, initially shared by the flight attendant to Facebook, is gaining broad coverage across the internet.

Doug Parker actually shared his version of the encounter as well, first with American’s executive leadership and then with employees on their company intranet. Here’s what he wrote.

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May 07 2020

American Airlines hasn’t been perfect, but it’s charted a path different from United and even Delta through the pandemic. They’ve generally honored refunds for cancelled flights, rather than choosing to illegally conserve cash the way United and others have attempted to do, and they’re plotting a course to avoid employee furloughs.

But they’re not capturing the value from these moves because they’ve failed to craft a narrative for the airline around being a better company, that frames them as the underdog and motivates employees and generates customer loyalty going forward. American Airlines can change that.

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Feb 24 2020

American Airlines CEO Doug Parker explains why when he sees something wrong he doesn’t insist that fixing the problem should be a priority.

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