American Airlines

American Airlines, Inc. (AA) is a major airline of the United States.[4] It is the world's largest airline in passenger miles transported[5] and passenger fleet size; second largest, behind FedEx Express, in aircraft operated; and second behind Air France-KLM in operating revenues.[6] A subsidiary of the AMR Corporation, the airline is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, adjacent to the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.[7] American operates scheduled flights throughout the United States, and flights to Canada, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, Japan, the People's Republic of China, and India. The Chairman, President, and CEO of AA is Gerard Arpey. In 2005, the airline flew more than 138 billion revenue passenger miles (RPM).

American Airlines before World War II

In 1934 American Airways Company was acquired by E.L. Cord, who renamed it "American Air Lines". Cord hired Texas businessman C.R. (Cyrus Rowlett) Smith to run the company.
Smith worked with Donald Douglas to develop the DC-3, which American Airlines started flying in 1936. With the DC-3, American began calling its aircraft "Flagships" and establishing the Admirals Club for valued passengers. The DC-3s had a four-star "admiral's pennant" outside the cockpit window while the aircraft was parked, one of the most well-known images of the airline at the time.
American Airlines was first to cooperate with Fiorello LaGuardia to build an airport in New York City, and partly as a result became owner of the world's first airline lounge at the new LaGuardia Airport (LGA), which became known as the Admirals Club. Membership was initially by invitation but a discrimination suit decades later changed the club into a paid club, creating the model for other airline lounges.

Postwar developments

After World War II, American launched an international subsidiary, American Overseas Airlines, to serve Europe; AOA was sold to Pan Am in 1950. AA launched another subsidiary, Líneas Aéreas Americanas de Mexico S.A., to fly to Mexico and built several airports there. American Airlines provided advertising and free usage of its aircraft in the 1951 film Three Guys Named Mike.[10]
American Airlines introduced the first transcontinental jet service using Boeing 707s on January 25, 1959. With its Astrojets, as it dubbed the jet fleet, American shifted to nonstop coast-to-coast flights, although it maintained feeder connections to cities along its old route using smaller Convair 990s and Lockheed Electras. American invested $440 million in jet aircraft up to 1962, launched the first electronic booking system (Sabre) with IBM, and built an upgraded terminal at Idlewild (now JFK) Airport in New York City which became the airline's largest base.[11]
From 1971-1978 Beverly Lynn Burns worked as a stewardess for AA. She went on to become the first woman Boeing 747 airline captain.[citation needed]
In 1975 American Airlines was headquartered at 633 Third Avenue in the Murray Hill area of Midtown Manhattan, New York City.

Expansion in the 1980s and 1990s

After moving headquarters to Fort Worth in 1979, American changed its routing to a hub-and-spoke system in 1981, opening its first hubs at DFW and Chicago O'Hare. Led by its new chairman and CEO, Robert Crandall, American began flights from these hubs to Europe and Japan in the mid-1980s.

In the late 1980s, American opened three hubs for north-south traffic. San Jose International Airport was added after American purchased AirCal. American also built a terminal and runway at Raleigh-Durham International Airport for the growing Research Triangle Park nearby and compete with USAir's hub in Charlotte. Nashville was also a hub.
In 1990, American Airlines bought the assets of TWA's operations at London Heathrow for $445 million, giving American a hub there. The US/UK Bermuda II treaty, in effect until open skies came into effect in April 2008, barred U.S. airlines from Heathrow with the sole exceptions of American and United Airlines.
Lower fuel prices and a favorable business climate led to higher than average profits in the 1990s. The industry's expansion was not lost on pilots who on February 17, 1997 went on strike for higher wages. President Bill Clinton invoked the Railway Labor Act citing economic impact to the United States, quashing the strike.[14] Pilots settled for wages lower than their demands.

The three new hubs were abandoned in the 1990s: some San Jose facilities were sold to Reno Air, and at Raleigh/Durham to Midway Airlines. Midway went out of business in 2001. American purchased Reno Air in February 1999 and integrated its operations on August 31, 1999, but did not resume hub operations in San Jose. American discontinued most of Reno Air's routes, and sold most of the Reno Air aircraft, as they had with Air California 12 years earlier. The only remaining route from the Air California and Reno Air purchases is San Francisco to Los Angeles.
During this time, concern over airline bankruptcies and falling stock prices brought a warning from American's CEO Robert Crandall. "I've never invested in any airline," Crandall said. "I'm an airline manager. I don't invest in airlines. And I always said to the employees of American, 'This is not an appropriate investment. It's a great place to work and it's a great company that does important work. But airlines are not an investment.'" Crandall noted that since airline deregulation of the 1970s, 150 airlines had gone out of business. "A lot of people came into the airline business. Most of them promptly exited, minus their money," he said.[citation needed]
Miami became a hub after American bought Central and South American routes from Eastern Air Lines in 1990 (inherited from Braniff International Airways but originated by Panagra). Through the 1990s, American expanded its network in Latin America to become the dominant U.S. carrier in the region.
On October 15, 1998 American Airlines became the first airline to offer electronic ticketing in the 44 countries it serves.

Slogans

Current - "We know why you fly, we're American Airlines."
AA/TWA merger - "Two great airlines, one great future."
2001 (post-9/11) - "We are an airline that is proud to bear the name American."
Mid 1990s - "Based Here. Best Here."
Late 1980s - "No other Airline gives you more of America, than American."
Mid 1980s-mid 1990s - "Something special in the air." (Variant used for website: "Something special online.")
1980s-1988- "The On-Time Machine."
1970s-1980s - "We're American Airlines, doing what we do best."
Early 1970s - "It's good to know you're on American Airlines."
1967-1969 - "Fly the American Way."
1964-1967 - "American built an airline for professional travelers."
1950s-early 1960s - "America's Leading (domestic) Airline."

TWA merger, 9/11, to the present

Robert Crandall left in 1998 and was replaced by Donald J. Carty, who negotiated the purchase of Trans World Airlines and its hub in St Louis in April 2001.
The merger of seniority lists remains contentious for pilots; the groups were represented by different unions. In the merger, 60 percent of former TWA pilots moved to the bottom of the seniority list at AA. All were furloughed, and most remain on furlough. The most senior TWA captain, hired in 1963, was integrated at the same seniority level as an AA captain hired in 1985.[citation needed] All TWA captains and first officers hired in March 1989 and later were appended to the seniority list junior to American Airlines first officers hired in June 2001. However, TWA pilots were given super-seniority and a ratio of positions as captain if they stayed in St Louis. The result was that most former TWA pilots stayed in St Louis and roughly maintained their relative seniority; though, some left St Louis and flew in the co-pilot seat next to AA pilots who may have been hired at a later date, but are more senior outside the protections afforded to that base. The extensive furloughs of former TWA pilots in the wake of the 9/11 attacks disproportionately affected St. Louis and resulted in a significant influx of American Airlines pilots. For cabin crews, all former TWA flight attendants (approximately 4,200) were furloughed by mid-2003 due to the AA flight attendants' union putting TWA flight attendants at the bottom of their seniority list.
American Airlines began losing money in the wake of the TWA merger and the September 11, 2001 attacks (in which some of its planes were involved). Carty negotiated wage and benefit agreements with the unions but resigned after union leaders discovered he was planning to award executive compensation packages at the same time. The St Louis hub was also downsized.
American has undergone additional cost-cutting, including rolling back its "More Room Throughout Coach" program (which eliminated several rows of seats on certain aircraft), ending three-class service on many international flights, and standardizing its fleet at each hub (see below). However, the airline also expanded into new markets, including Ireland, India and mainland China. On July 20, 2005, American announced a quarterly profit for the first time in 17 quarters; the airline earned $58 million in the second quarter of 2005.Boeing 777-223ER landing at London Heathrow Airport
AA was a strong backer of the Wright Amendment, which regulated commercial airline operations at Love Field in Dallas. On June 15, 2006, American agreed with Southwest Airlines and the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth to seek repeal of the Wright Amendment on condition that Love Field remained a domestic airport and its gate capacity be limited.[15]
American Airlines canceled 1,000 flights to inspect wire bundles over three days in April 2008 to make sure they complied with government safety regulations.[16] This caused significant inconvenience to passengers and financial problems for the airline. American has begun the process of replacing all its MD-80 jets with Boeing 737s, though it has MD-80 aircraft on lease through 2024.
In May 2008, a month after mass grounding of aircraft, American announced capacity cuts and fees to increase revenue and help cover high fuel prices. The airline increased fees such as a $15 charge for the first checked bag and $25 for the second, as well as a $150 change fee for domestic reservations. American Airlines announced in May that it expected to retire 40 to 45 mainline aircraft in fall 2008, the majority fuel-inefficient MD-80s but also some Airbus A300s. American's regional airline, American Eagle Airlines, will retire 35 to 40 regional jets as well as its Saab turboprop fleet.
On July 2, 2008, American announced furloughs of up to 950 flight attendants, via Texas' Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act system.[17] This furlough is in addition to the furlough of 20 MD-80 aircraft[18]. American's hub at San Juan will be truncated from 38 to 18 daily inbound flights, but the carrier will retain service in a diminished capacity.
On August 13, 2008, the Kansas City Star reported that American would move some overhaul work from its Kansas City, Missouri base. Repairs on Boeing 757s will be made in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and some 767 maintenance will move there as well; one, possibly two, Boeing 767 repair lines will be retained at Kansas City International Airport. The narrow-body repair hangar will be shut. The city's aviation department offered to upgrade repair facilities on condition that the airline maintain at least 700 jobs.
On June 26, 2009, rumors of a merger with US Airways resurfaced to much speculation within the online aviation community.

Destinations

American Airlines serves four continents. Hubs at Dallas/Fort Worth and Miami serve as gateways to the Americas, while American's Chicago hub has become the airline's primary gateway to Europe and Asia. New York Kennedy (JFK) is a primary gateway for both the Americas and Europe, while New York La Guardia (LGA) and St. Louis are regional hubs. It serves the second largest number of international destinations, second to Continental Airlines
American is the only U.S. airline with scheduled flights to Anguilla, Bolivia, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Uruguay.
American has begun to expand in Asia, with mixed success. In 2005, American re-introduced a non-stop flight from Dallas/Fort Worth to Osaka-Kansai, which has since been discontinued. American also launched non-stop service from Chicago to Nagoya-Centrair, but that too ended within a year. Also in 2005, American launched service from Chicago to Delhi.This service has been profitable.[citation needed] In April 2006, American began service from Chicago to Shanghai, also profitably. However, in October 2006, American ceased its San Jose, California to Tokyo-Narita service, leaving LAX and SFO as American's sole international gateways on the West Coast. American planned flights between Dallas/Fort Worth and Beijing via Chicago-O'Hare (on Westbound only) in 2007 but lost its bid to United Airlines' Dulles to Beijing route. AA was granted permission in September 2007 to start a Chicago-Beijing route in a new set of China routes in 2009,[23] but currently plans to begin service in April 2010.
American has begun non-stop service from Miami to the Brazilian cities of Belo Horizonte, Recife, and Salvador. It has also added nonstop flights from Dallas/Fort Worth to San Salvador (Spring 2008) and Panama City, Panama (December 2007). Since then, service ended in September 2008 to San Salvador. In 2008, American also began non-stop service from Chicago to Moscow.
In May 2009, American began daily Dallas-Fort Worth to Madrid, Spain service.