As anyone who follows the airline industry knows, American Airlines is horribly lagging Delta Air Lines and United Airlines when it comes to financial performance. I mean, the airline didn’t even turn a profit in the third quarter.
Delta has long been the leader when it comes to profitability, but United has been narrowing the gap (though perhaps not quite as much as United CEO Scott Kirby claims, especially given the labor contracts that United still has to get squared away). Financially, it almost feels like a zero sum game, where United’s improved financial performance comes at American’s expense, though I’m not convinced it has to be that way.
While everyone seems to have their theoretical magic formula for how to fix American, I think that sort of misses the bigger picture. I don’t think anything will make a material difference without a major reboot at the top.
I don’t think American can succeed under current leadership
Personally, I don’t think American can’t be saved, and that the company’s mistakes can’t be undone. Quite to the contrary, I think American could solve its issues without having to reinvent the wheel. The carrier has amazing domestic hubs, incredibly strong joint venture partners, a unique advantage in Latin America, etc.
I think what American needs most is a vision and clear mandate for what it wants to be, a focus on premium, and a leader who can get employees united behind all of that. That last point is the most important — without the support of frontline staff, nothing is changing. Essentially, the airline needs a full reboot, where a leader proudly proclaims “okay, we’re going to do things differently starting now, this isn’t the old American anymore!”
The irony is that American is currently very slowly making positive changes, but they’re happening one after the other, and they’re not being rolled out in a way where American is really getting credit for it, or where the CEO can clearly explain “hey, here’s what we’re really doing!”
And that brings me to what I view as a key thing standing in the way of American’s success — I am convinced American can’t succeed under its current CEO, Robert Isom.
Let me emphasize that I say this as someone who is rooting for American. I’ve been loyal(ish) to the airline for 15 years, and I live in Miami. Little would make me happier than a renewed effort to make American great again!
It also sort of pains me to say this, because while I haven’t met Isom, he strikes me as the most pleasant and sincere of the “big three” US airline CEOs. I have a lot of respect for him as a person. But seriously, ask any American employee, from a frontline team member to a mid-level manager, if they have faith that Isom can orchestrate a turnaround, and get people excited. The answer is overwhelmingly going to be “no.”
Yes, American has actually been hiring pretty well, and it’s encouraging that Nat Pieper has now become Chief Commercial Officer. But I truly think that more than ever before, American needs a new CEO who can get an exhausted and confused workforce excited. I’m also convinced it needs to be someone from outside the organization, and not just another reshuffling of the America West and US Airways deck chairs, so to speak.
It’s really unfortunate that the one “bold” strategy that Isom endorsed was that of former Chief Commercial Officer Vasu Raja, with his “screw business travel, and we’re a domestic airline, and our schedule is our product” strategy.
How is American’s board okay just watching all of this happen?
I’ll admit I’ve never worked for a major publicly traded company, so could y’all indulge me for a moment? If I’m understanding things correctly, company boards report to shareholders, and they exist to oversee management and hold them accountable… is that correct?
If so, of all the people in the world who could be paid $15-30 million per year to lead American, they still think things are headed in the right direction, and that Isom is the absolute best person for the job? Or put another way, are they really worried the airline would be worse off if they gave someone else a try?
Can anyone make sense of this? Is the issue just that this is essentially a club of friends, and they have the CEO’s back? Does no one want to be the board member who says “hmmm, you know, things aren’t looking so great, maybe we should try a different strategy?”
I’m not some person who thinks stock price is the single most important thing in the world, but isn’t that what company boards usually care most about? I can’t help but always be reminded of how former American CEO Doug Parker made a bet that the company’s stock price would hit $60 in November 2018. Instead it was at $37. Now, in November 2025, it’s at $12. Interestingly, comparing that to Delta and United stock, both of those are roughly even comparing November 2018 vs. November 2025. So yeah, even vs. roughly two-thirds decrease… I’ll let everyone draw their own conclusions.
American needs a CEO who can explain and execute a cohesive vision of what they want the company to be, who can hire the right people, who can rally employees, and who is good with labor. Am I wrong about what’s important, or does the board think that Isom has those qualities?
And frankly, I think it’s more important than ever that they pick someone from outside the company, because that will maximize odds of employees rallying behind them. American’s management has ultimately failed employees year after year, and morale couldn’t be much lower, despite American’s high labor costs.
Who would be a good fit for the role of American CEO? Which outsider has the experience, the track record, and isn’t at retirement age? I feel like there’s a bit of a generational divide at the moment among airline executives, where you have a bunch of very smart people who will be retiring in the coming years, and then a new wave of very bright people in their 40s, who have C-suite roles (just look at Air Canada, as an example).
Can you give one of the younger people a shot? I suppose some might view that as a gamble, but I can think of several that would do a great job. If you wanted to go with a safer bet, who could you go with? It’s not like American would poach the CEOs of Delta or United, and I don’t think someone like Delta President Glen Hauenstein would necessarily be a great fit either (he’s brilliant at orchestrating things in the background, but probably not the guy for a job like this).
What about someone like Alaska CEO Ben Minicucci, or former Hawaiian CEO Peter Ingram? Minicucci does a great job running Alaska, but he’s just now learning about running a global airline which is a bit of a different beast. And while Ingram seems like a bright guy, it’s not like Hawaiian really did that great financially, other than becoming an attractive acquisition target.
I think American needs someone like current Air France-KLM CEO (and former Air Canada President) Ben Smith, who kind of bridges the gap between generations, who knows the industry exceptionally well, and who has a lot of leadership experience running a global airline, while being nowhere close to retirement age. Now, of course that’s just an example, but I’m talking about the type of person they need. I’m just struggling to think of many other people with that level of experience, who aren’t close to retirement.
Bottom line
Everyone has their theory as to how to fix American Airlines. I think the biggest and most basic thing is that the airline needs a bold new vision, and a CEO who can get employees excited. Without the trust or enthusiasm of employees, nothing will change.
I think the issue is that if you ask most American employees, they’ve lost faith in the America West team running things. And even if American CEO Robert Isom revealed some incredible new vision tomorrow, most employees would probably just roll their eyes and say “whatever.”
I don’t think anything I’m saying is any sort of a hot take. I’m just curious about why American’s board has been sitting by year after year, watching continued declining performance, without seemingly intervening. And no matter how much American improves its C-suite talent otherwise, it doesn’t change the fact that American needs a central leader who tells the company’s story… and I don’t think Isom has proven that he can be that guy.
Where do you stand on the need for American to have a leadership change?
