AMERICAN AIRLINES

Benedict Gombocz

American Airlines: Background

Major U.S. airline headquartered in Forth Worth, Texas. Operates an extensive global and domestic network, with

scheduled flights all over North America, the Caribbean, South America, Europe, and Asia.

Its route network focuses on five “cornerstone” hubs: Dallas/Fort Worth, New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and Chicago.

Tulsa International Airport (TUL) is its main maintenance base. Member of the Oneworld airline alliance; manages prices, services,

and scheduling with British Airways and Iberia in the transatlantic market and with Japan Airlines and Qantas in the transpacific market.

American Eagle Airlines, SkyWest, Inc., SkyWest Airlines, and ExpressJet Airlines fly regional flights for American Airlines under the “American Eagle” brand.

AMR Corporation, the parent company of American Airlines, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November 2011, and planned to merge with US Airways Group in February 2013 to form the world’s biggest airline; the two corporations concluded the merger on December 9, 2013, with the new holding company American Airlines Group, Inc. listed on NASDAQ the same day,

even though the actual incorporation will not be finished until a later date.

The merged airline will carry the American Airlines name and branding, and will take over the existing US Airways hubs in Charlotte, Philadelphia, and Phoenix for up to five years under the terms of an agreement with the United States Department of Justice and several state attorneys-general.

American Airlines: Hubs and focus cities Hubs:

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport (New

York) Los Angeles International Airport Miami International Airport O’Hare International Airport (Chicago)

Focus cities: LaGuardia Airport (New York)

American Airlines: Logo Massimo Vignelli designed the famous “AA” logo

(right) in 1967. American Airlines was able to make its logo internet-

friendly by purchasing the domain aa.com, also its two-letter IATA airline designator.

American began a new rebranding and marketing campaign with FutureBrand called “A New American”, which included a new logo to replace the classic 1967 logo.

American Airlines calls the new logo the “Flight Symbol” (the eagle and the “A” from the old logo are merged).

American Airlines: Headquarters

American Airlines is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, near the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

Before it was headquartered in Texas, American Airlines was headquartered at 633 Third Avenue in the Murray Hill area of Midtown Manhattan, New York City.

In 1978, American announced that it would relocate its headquarters to a site at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in 1979; this move affected 1,300 jobs.

Ed Koch, Mayor of New York City at the time, condemned this move as a “betrayal “of New York City.

American moved to two rented office buildings in Grand Prairie, Texas.

On January 17, 1983, the airline completed its move into a $150 million ($351,570,330.77 when regulated for inflation), 550,000-square foot (51,000 m 2) facility in Fort Worth; $147 million (almost $344,538,924.16 when regulated for inflation) in Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport bonds paid for the new headquarters.

American began renting the facility from the airport, which owns the facility.

American Airlines: Destinations

American Airlines serves four continents, rivaling Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, both of which serve six.

Hubs at Dallas/Fort Worth and Miami serve as entries to the Americas, whereas the hub in Chicago has become its main entry to Europe and Asia.

New York’s JFK is the main entry for both the Americas and Europe; the hub in Los Angeles is the main entry to Asia only.

For many years, Lambert-St. Louis International Airport was a regional hub, but the airline’s restructure led to the removal of the airport as a focus city on April 5, 2010.

In the U.S., American serves the third-biggest number of global destinations, behind United Airlines and Delta Air Lines.

American Airlines: Partnerships and codeshare agreements

American Airlines has codeshare agreements with these airlines: Air Berlin Air Tahiti Nui Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air Asiana Airlines British Airways British Airways Limited Cape Air Cathay Pacific El Al Etihad Airways Fiji Airways Finnair Gulf Air Hainan Airlines Hawaiian Airlines Iberia Japan Airlines Jet Airways JetBlue Airways Jetstar Airways LAN Airlines LAN Colombia Malaysia Airlines Open Skies Qantas Qatar Airways Royal Jordanian Seaborne Airlines TAM Airlines WestJet

American Airlines: Partnerships and codeshare agreements (cont.)

In particular, American Airlines maintains joint ventures with British Airways, Iberia, and Finnair on transatlantic routes, and with Japan Airlines and Qantas on transpacific routes.

American additionally flew interchange flight services alongside Alaska Airlines in the 1970s between Texas and Alaska during the building of the Trans-Alaska oil pipeline, an interchange agreement that permitted single, no change of aircraft service between Houston, TX and Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX, and Anchorage, AK and Fairbanks, AK.

The roundtrip routing of this interchange flight was Houston-Dallas/Ft. Worth-Seattle-Anchorage-Fairbanks; Seattle, WA served as the crossing point at which flight and cabin crews rotated from one airline to the next; both American and Alaska Airlines provided Boeing 727-200 jetliners, which were operated to provide this interchange service.

American Airlines: Fleet The American Airlines fleet is made up of 616 aircraft

from October 2013; its fleet has a normal age of 14.7 years.

After withdrawing its last Airbus A300 aircraft in 2009, American Airlines operated an all-Boeing fleet (which included aircraft manufactured by McDonnell Douglas prior to its merger with Boeing in 1997), until July 2013, when the first Airbus A319 entered the fleet.

American Airlines ordered 360 and took options for 465 aircraft from Airbus and Boeing on July 20, 2011, with the intent of replacing its MD-80, 757-200, and 767-200 aircraft; this, according to American Airlines, is the biggest acquisition of aircraft in aviation history.

American Airlines MD-82, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport

American Airlines aircraft, John F. Kennedy International Airport

American Airlines 777-200, Los Angeles International Airport

American Airlines aircraft, Miami International Airport

American Airlines 767-300, Chicago O'Hare International Airport

American Airlines aircraft, LaGuardia Airport

American Airlines 777-200, Boston Logan International Airport

American Airlines MD-80, Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport

American Airlines 757-200 in Oneworld livery, London Heathrow Airport

The End YouTube links:

Change is in the Air – American Airlines commercial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ1tMaI9XMc

American Airlines In Flight Safety Video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnBke-S9oGY