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American Airlines is a major US-based airline headquartered in
Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...
, within the
Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, officially designated Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, is a conurbated metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Texas encompassing 11 counties and anchore ...
. It is the largest airline in the world when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and revenue passenger mile. American, together with its regional partners and affiliates, operates an extensive international and domestic network with almost 6,800 flights per day to nearly 350 destinations in more than 50 countries. American Airlines is a founding member of the
Oneworld Oneworld (stylised as oneworld; Computer reservations system, CRS: *O) is an airline alliance founded on 1 February 1999. The alliance's stated objective is to be the first choice airline alliance for the world's frequent international traveller ...
alliance, the third-largest airline alliance in the world. Regional service is operated by independent and subsidiary carriers under the brand name American Eagle. American Airlines and American Eagle operate out of 10 hubs, with Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) being its largest. The airline handles more than 200 million passengers annually with an average of more than 500,000 passengers daily. As of 2021, the company employs 123,400 staff members.


History

American Airlines was started in 1930 via a union of more than eighty small airlines. The two organizations from which American Airlines was originated were Robertson Aircraft Corporation and Colonial Air Transport. The former was first created in Missouri in 1921, with both being merged in 1929 into holding company
The Aviation Corporation Avco Corporation is a subsidiary of Textron which operates Textron Systems Corporation and Lycoming. History The Aviation Corporation was formed on March 2, 1929, to prevent a takeover of CAM-24 airmail service operator Embry-Riddle Compa ...
. This, in turn, was made in 1930 into an operating company and rebranded as American Airways. In 1934, when new laws and attrition of mail contracts forced many airlines to reorganize, the corporation redid its routes into a connected system and was renamed American Airlines. Between 1970 and 2000, the company grew into being an international carrier, purchasing
Trans World Airlines Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with F ...
in 2001. American had a direct role in the development of the DC-3, which resulted from a marathon telephone call from American Airlines CEO
C. R. Smith Cyrus Rowlett "C.R." Smith (September 9, 1899 – April 4, 1990) was the CEO of American Airlines from 1934 to 1968 and from 1973 to 1974. He was also the wartime deputy commander of the Air Transport Command during World War II, and the United ...
to
Douglas Aircraft Company The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aerospace manufacturer based in Southern California. It was founded in 1921 by Donald Wills Douglas Sr. and later merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to form McDonnell Douglas; it then operated as ...
founder
Donald Wills Douglas Sr. Donald Wills Douglas Sr. (April 6, 1892 – February 1, 1981) was an American aircraft industrialist and engineer. An aviation pioneer, he designed and built the Douglas Cloudster. Though it failed in its intended purpose—being the first to ...
, when Smith persuaded a reluctant Douglas to design a sleeper aircraft based on the DC-2 to replace American's Curtiss Condor II biplanes. (The existing DC-2's cabin was wide, too narrow for side-by-side berths.) Douglas agreed to go ahead with development only after Smith informed him of American's intention to purchase 20 aircraft. The prototype DST ( Douglas Sleeper Transport) first flew on December 17, 1935, (the 32nd anniversary of the Wright Brothers' flight at Kitty Hawk). Its cabin was wide, and a version with 21 seats instead of the 14–16 sleeping berths of the DST was given the designation DC-3. There was no prototype DC-3; the first DC-3 built followed seven DSTs off the production line and was delivered to American Airlines. American Airlines inaugurated passenger service on June 26, 1936, with simultaneous flights from
Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
. American also had a direct role in the development of the DC-10, which resulted from a specification from American Airlines to manufacturers in 1966 to offer a widebody aircraft that was smaller than the
Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2022. After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, t ...
, but capable of flying similar long-range routes from airports with shorter runways.
McDonnell Douglas McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturing corporation and defense contractor, formed by the merger of McDonnell Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967. Between then and its own merger with Boeing in 1997, it produ ...
responded with the DC-10
trijet A trijet is a jet aircraft powered by three jet engines. In general, passenger airline trijets are considered to be second-generation jet airliners, due to their innovative engine locations, in addition to the advancement of turbofan technology. ...
shortly after the two companies' merger.Waddington 2000, pp. 6–18. On February 19, 1968, the president of American Airlines, George A. Spater, and James S. McDonnell of McDonnell Douglas announced American's intention to acquire the DC-10. American Airlines ordered 25 DC-10s in its first order. The DC-10 made its first flight on August 29, 1970, and received its type certificate from the FAA on July 29, 1971. On August 5, 1971, the DC-10 entered commercial service with American Airlines on a round trip flight between
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
and Chicago. In 2011, due to a downturn in the airline industry, American Airlines' parent company AMR Corporation filed for bankruptcy protection. In 2013, American Airlines merged with
US Airways US Airways (formerly USAir) was a major United States airline that operated from 1937 until its merger with American Airlines in 2015. It was originally founded in History of aviation in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh as a mail delivery airline called ...
but kept the American Airlines name, as it was the better-recognized brand internationally; the combination of the two airlines resulted in the creation of the largest airline in the United States, and ultimately the world.


Destinations and hubs


Destinations

As of July 2022, American Airlines flies to 269 domestic destinations and 81 international destinations in 48 countries (as of January 2022) in five continents.


Hubs

American currently operates ten hubs. *
Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...
– American's hub for the southeastern United States and secondary Caribbean gateway. Its operations in Concourse E are the largest regional flight operation in the world. American has about 91% of the market share at CLT, making it the largest carrier at the airport. Former
US Airways US Airways (formerly USAir) was a major United States airline that operated from 1937 until its merger with American Airlines in 2015. It was originally founded in History of aviation in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh as a mail delivery airline called ...
hub. *
Chicago–O'Hare Chicago O'Hare International Airport , sometimes referred to as, Chicago O'Hare, or simply O'Hare, is the main international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately northwest of the Loop business ...
– American's hub for the Midwest. American has about 35% of the market share at O'Hare, making it the airport's second largest airline after United. * Dallas/Fort Worth – American's hub for the southern United States and largest hub overall. American currently has about 87% of the market share at DFW, making it the largest carrier at the airport. American's corporate headquarters are also in Fort Worth near the airport. DFW serves as American's primary Transpacific hub, primary gateway to Mexico, and secondary gateway to Latin America. *
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
– American's hub for the West Coast and secondary transpacific gateway. *
Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
– American's primary Latin American and Caribbean hub, and secondary transatlantic hub (especially to Southern Europe). American has about 68% of the market share at Miami International, making it the largest airline at the airport. *
New York–JFK John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the Ne ...
– American's primary transatlantic hub. Mostly serves destinations with a lot of business traffic. American has about 12% of the market share at JFK, making it the third largest carrier at the airport behind Delta and JetBlue. * New York–LaGuardia – American's second New York hub. *
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
– American's primary Northeast domestic hub and a tertiary transatlantic hub, primarily for London and leisure destinations. American has about 70% of the market share at PHL, making it the airport's largest airline. Former US Airways hub. * Phoenix–Sky Harbor – American's Rocky Mountain hub. Currently American has about 33% of the market share at PHX, making it the airport's second-largest airline. Former US Airways hub. * Washington–Reagan – American's hub for the capital of the United States. American has about 49% of the market share at DCA, making it the largest carrier at the airport.


Alliance and codeshare agreements

American Airlines is a member of the
Oneworld Oneworld (stylised as oneworld; Computer reservations system, CRS: *O) is an airline alliance founded on 1 February 1999. The alliance's stated objective is to be the first choice airline alliance for the world's frequent international traveller ...
alliance and has codeshares with the following airlines: *
Aer Lingus Aer Lingus ( ; an anglicisation of the Irish , meaning "air fleet" compare Welsh 'llynges awyr') is the flag carrier of Ireland. Founded by the Irish Government, it was privatised between 2006 and 2015 and it is now a wholly owned subsidiary ...
* Air Tahiti Nui * Alaska Airlines *
Cape Air Hyannis Air Service Inc., operating as Cape Air, is an airline headquartered at Barnstable Municipal Airport in Hyannis, Massachusetts, United States. It operates scheduled passenger services in the Northeast (US), Northeast, the Caribbean, Midw ...
*
Cathay Pacific Cathay Pacific Airways Limited (CPA), more widely known as Cathay Pacific (), is the flag carrier of Hong Kong, with its head office and main hub located at Hong Kong International Airport. The airline's operations and subsidiaries have sc ...
* China Southern Airlines * El Al *
Fiji Airways Fiji Airways (trading as and formerly known as Air Pacific) is the flag carrier airline of Fiji and operates international services from its hubs in Fiji to 13 countries and 26 cities including, Australia, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, K ...
* Gol Transportes Aéreos * Hawaiian Airlines *
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* JetBlue *
JetSmart JetSmart Airlines SpA, stylized as JetSMART, is a South American ultra low-cost carrier created by US investment fund (and co-founder of LBM Fermin Ithuralde) Indigo Partners, which also controls low-cost carriers like US airline Frontier Airli ...
* Jetstar Airways * Jetstar Japan *
LEVEL Level or levels may refer to: Engineering *Level (instrument), a device used to measure true horizontal or relative heights *Spirit level, an instrument designed to indicate whether a surface is horizontal or vertical *Canal pound or level *Regr ...
*
Malaysia Airlines Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB; ms, Penerbangan Malaysia Berhad), formerly known as Malaysian Airline System (MAS; ), and branded as Malaysia Airlines, is the flag carrier airline of Malaysia and a member of the Oneworld airline alliance. (The ...
* Qatar Airways *
Royal Air Maroc Royal Air Maroc (; ar, الخطوط الملكية المغربية, , literally ''Royal Moroccan Lines'' or ''Royal Moroccan Airlines''; ber, ⴰⵎⵓⵏⵉ ⴰⵢⵍⴰⵍ ⴰⴳⵍⴷⴰⵏ ⵏ ⴰⵎⵓⵔⴰⴽⵓⵛ, ''Amuni Aylal Age ...
*
Royal Jordanian Royal Jordanian Airlines ( ar, ; transliterated: ''Al-Malakiyyah al-'Urduniyyah''), formerly known as Alia Royal Jordanian Airlines, is the flag carrier airline of Jordan with its head office in the capital, Amman. The airline operates scheduled ...
* Seaborne Airlines * Silver Airways *
SriLankan Airlines SriLankan Airlines (formerly known as Air Lanka) is the flag carrier of Sri Lanka and a member airline of the Oneworld airline alliance. It is currently the largest airline in Sri Lanka by number of aircraft and destinations and was launched i ...
*
Vueling Vueling S.A. is a Spanish low-cost airline based at El Prat de Llobregat in Greater Barcelona with hubs at Barcelona–El Prat Airport (main), Paris-Orly Airport in Paris, France and Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport in Rome, Italy (seconda ...


Joint ventures

In addition to the above codeshares, American Airlines has entered into
joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...
s with the following airlines: *
British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...
* Finnair *
Iberia The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
* Japan Airlines *
Qantas Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the world's third-oldest airline still in operation, having been founded ...


Fleet

As of April 2022, American Airlines operates the largest commercial fleet in the world, comprising 911 aircraft from both
Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...
and
Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace manufacturer, aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft througho ...
, with an additional 161 planned or on order. Over 80% of American's aircraft are narrow-bodies, mainly
Airbus A320 series The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first member of the fami ...
and the Boeing 737-800. It is the largest A320 series aircraft operator in the world, as well as the largest operator of the A319 and
A321 The Airbus A321 is a member of the Airbus A320 family of short to medium range, narrow-body, commercial passenger twin engine jet airliners; it carries 185 to 236 passengers. It has a stretched fuselage which was the first derivative of the ba ...
variants. It is the fourth-largest operator of 737 family aircraft and second-largest operator of the 737-800 variant. American's wide-body aircraft are all Boeing airliners. It is the third-largest operator of the Boeing 787 series and the sixth-largest operator of the Boeing 777 series. American exclusively ordered Boeing aircraft throughout the 2000s. This strategy shifted on July 20, 2011, when American announced the largest combined aircraft order in history for 460 narrow-body jets including 260 aircraft from the Airbus A320 series. Additional Airbus aircraft joined the fleet in 2013 during the US Airways merger, which operated a nearly all Airbus fleet. On August 16, 2022, American announced that a deal had been confirmed with
Boom Supersonic Boom Technology, Inc. (trade name Boom Supersonic) is an American company designing a , 65-88-passenger supersonic airliner. Named the Boom Overture, the airliner is planned to have a range of and to be introduced in 2025. After being incubat ...
to purchase at least 20 of their
Overture Overture (from French ''ouverture'', "opening") in music was originally the instrumental introduction to a ballet, opera, or oratorio in the 17th century. During the early Romantic era, composers such as Beethoven and Mendelssohn composed overt ...
supersonic airliner A supersonic transport (SST) or a supersonic airliner is a civilian supersonic aircraft designed to transport passengers at speeds greater than the speed of sound. To date, the only SSTs to see regular service have been Concorde and the Tupol ...
s and potentially up to 60 in total. American Airlines operates aircraft maintenance and repair bases at the Charlotte, Chicago O'Hare, Dallas–Fort Worth,
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
(where all its Airbus narrowbody aircraft are maintained), and
Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...
airports.


Cabins

;Flagship First Flagship First is American's international and
transcontinental Transcontinental may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * "Transcontinental", a song by the band Pedro the Lion from the album ''Achilles Heel'' * TC Transcontinental, a publishing, media and marketing company based in Canada, a subsidiary o ...
first class product. It is offered only on
Boeing 777-300ER The Boeing 777, commonly referred to as the Triple Seven, is an American long-range wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It is the world's largest twinjet. The 777 was designed to bridge the gap bet ...
s and select Airbus A321s which American designates "A321T". The seats are fully lie-flat and offer direct aisle access with only one on each side of the aisle in each row. As with the airline's other premium cabins, Flagship First offers wider food and beverage options, larger seats, and lounge access at certain airports. American offers domestic Flagship First service on transcontinental routes between
New York–JFK John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the Ne ...
and
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, New York–JFK and
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
, New York-JFK and Santa Ana,
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
and Los Angeles, and
Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
and Los Angeles, as well as on the standard domestic route between New York-JFK and Boston. The airline will debut new Flagship Suite® premium seats and a revamped aircraft interior for its long-haul fleet with fresh deliveries of its Airbus A321XLR and Boeing 787-9 aircraft, beginning in 2024. ;Flagship Business Flagship Business is American's international and transcontinental business class product. It is offered on all Boeing 777-200ERs, Boeing 777-300ERs, Boeing 787-8s, and Boeing 787-9s, as well as select Airbus A321s. All Flagship Business seats are fully lie-flat. ;Domestic first class First class is offered on all domestically configured aircraft. Seats range from in width and have of pitch. Dining options include complementary alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages on all flights as well as standard economy snack offerings, enhanced snack basket selections on flights over , and meals on flights or longer. ;Premium Economy Premium Economy is American's economy plus product. It is offered on all widebody aircraft. The cabin debuted on the airline's Boeing 787-9s in late 2016 and is also available on Boeing 777-200s and -300s, and Boeing 787-8s. Premium Economy seats are wider than seats in the main cabin (American's economy cabin) and provide more amenities: Premium Economy customers get two free checked bags, priority boarding, and enhanced food and drink service including free alcohol. This product made American Airlines the first U.S. carrier to offer a four-cabin aircraft. ;Main Cabin Extra Main Cabin Extra is American's enhanced economy product. It is available on all of the mainline fleet and American Eagle aircraft. Main Cabin Extra seats include greater pitch than is available in main cabin, along with free alcoholic beverages and boarding one group ahead of main cabin. American retained Main Cabin Extra when the new Premium Economy product entered service in late 2016. ;Main Cabin Main Cabin (economy class) is American's economy product and is found on all mainline and regional aircraft in its fleet. Seats range from in width and have of pitch. American markets a number of rows within the main cabin immediately behind Main Cabin Extra as "Main Cabin Preferred", which require an extra charge to select for those without status. American Airlines marketed increased legroom in economy class as "More Room Throughout Coach", also referred to as "MRTC", starting in February 2000. Two rows of economy class seats were removed on domestic narrowbody aircraft, resulting in more than half of all standard economy seats having a pitch of or more. Amid financial losses, this scheme was discontinued in 2004. On many routes, American also offers Basic Economy, the airline's lowest main cabin fare. Basic Economy consists of a Main Cabin ticket with numerous restrictions including waiting until check-in for a seat assignment, no upgrades or refunds, and boarding in the last group. Originally Basic Economy passengers could only carry a personal item, but American later revised their Basic Economy policies to allow for a carry-on bag. In May 2017, American announced it would be adding more seats to some of its Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets and reducing overall legroom in the basic economy class. The last three rows were to lose , going from the current to . The remainder of the main cabin was to have of legroom. This "Project Oasis" seating configuration has since been expanded to all 737 MAX 8s as well as standard Boeing 737-800 and non-transcontinental Airbus A321 jets. New
Airbus A321neo The Airbus A320neo family is a development of the A320 family of narrow-body airliners produced by Airbus. The A320neo family (''neo'' for "new engine option") is based on the previous A319, A320 and A321 ( enhanced variant), which was then ren ...
jets have been delivered with the same configuration.


Reward programs


AAdvantage

AAdvantage is the
frequent flyer program A frequent-flyer program (American English) or frequent-flyer programme (British English) is a loyalty program offered by an airline. Many airlines have frequent-flyer programs designed to encourage airline customers enrolled in the program ...
for American Airlines. It was launched on May 1, 1981, and it remains the largest frequent flyer program with over 67 million members as of 2011. Miles accumulated in the program allow members to redeem tickets, upgrade service class, or obtain free or discounted car rentals, hotel stays, merchandise, or other products and services through partners. The most active members, based on the amount and price of travel booked, are designated AAdvantage Gold, AAdvantage Platinum, AAdvantage Platinum Pro, and AAdvantage Executive Platinum elite members, with privileges such as separate check-in, priority upgrade, and standby processing, or free upgrades. They also receive similar privileges from AA's partner airlines, particularly those in
oneworld Oneworld (stylised as oneworld; Computer reservations system, CRS: *O) is an airline alliance founded on 1 February 1999. The alliance's stated objective is to be the first choice airline alliance for the world's frequent international traveller ...
. AAdvantage co-branded credit cards are also available and offer other benefits. The cards are issued by CitiCards, a subsidiary of
Citigroup Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking ...
, and Barclaycard in the United States, by several banks including
Butterfield Bank Butterfield, officially The Bank of N. T. Butterfield & Son Limited, is a bank founded and based in Bermuda. It provides services to clients from Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Guernsey and Jersey, where its principal banking operations are locate ...
and
Scotiabank The Bank of Nova Scotia (french: link=no, Banque de Nouvelle-Écosse), operating as Scotiabank (french: link=no, Banque Scotia), is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. One of Canada ...
in the Caribbean, and by Banco Santander in Brazil. AAdvantage allows one-way redemption, starting at 7,500 miles.


Admirals Club

The Admirals Club was conceived by AA president C.R. Smith as a marketing promotion shortly after he was made an honorary Texas Ranger. Inspired by the
Kentucky colonel Kentucky Colonel is the highest title of honor bestowed by the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and is the most well-known of a number of honorary colonelcies conferred by United States governors. A Kentucky Colonel Commission (the certificate) is ...
s and other honorary title designations, Smith decided to make particularly valued passengers "admirals" of the "Flagship fleet" (AA called its aircraft "Flagships" at the time). The list of admirals included many celebrities, politicians, and other VIPs, as well as more "ordinary" customers who had been particularly loyal to the airline. There was no physical Admirals Club until shortly after the opening of LaGuardia Airport. During the airport's construction, New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia had an upper-level lounge set aside for press conferences and business meetings. At one such press conference, he noted that the entire terminal was being offered for lease to airline tenants; after a reporter asked whether the lounge would be leased as well, LaGuardia replied that it would, and a vice president of AA immediately offered to lease the premises. The airline then procured a liquor license and began operating the lounge as the "Admirals Club" in 1939. The second Admirals Club opened at Washington National Airport. Because it was illegal to sell alcohol in Virginia at the time, the club contained refrigerators for the use of its members, so they could store their liquor at the airport. For many years, membership in the Admirals Club (and most other airline lounges) was by the airline's invitation. After a passenger sued for discrimination, the club switched to a paid membership program in 1974.


Flagship Lounge

Though affiliated with the Admirals Club and staffed by many of the same employees, the Flagship Lounge is a separate lounge specifically designed for customers flying in first class and business class on international flights and transcontinental domestic flights, as well as AAdvantage Concierge Key, Executive Platinum, Platinum Pro, and Platinum, as well as Oneworld Emerald and Sapphire frequent flyers. As of May 2019, Flagship Lounges are located at five airports: New York–JFK, Chicago-O'Hare, Miami International, Los Angeles, and Dallas/Fort Worth. Flagship Lounges are planned for London-Heathrow and Philadelphia.


Corporate affairs


Ownership and structure

American Airlines, Inc., is publicly traded through its parent company, American Airlines Group Inc., under NASDAQ: AAL , with a market capitalization of about $12 billion as of 2019, and is included in the S&P 500 index. American Eagle is a network of six regional carriers that operate under a codeshare and service agreement with American, operating flights to destinations in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, and Mexico. Three of these carriers are independent and three are subsidiaries of American Airlines Group: Envoy Air Inc., Piedmont Airlines, Inc., and PSA Airlines Inc.


Headquarters

American Airlines is headquartered across several buildings in
Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...
that it calls the "Robert L. Crandall Campus" in honor of former president and CEO
Robert Crandall Robert Lloyd "Bob" Crandall (born December 6, 1935 in Westerly, Rhode Island) is an American businessman who is the former president and chairman of American Airlines. Called an industry legend by airline industry observers, Crandall has been the ...
. The square-foot, five-building office complex called was designed by
Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects Pelli is the surname of: * Arttu Pelli (born 1996), Finnish ice hockey * César Pelli (1926–2019), Argentine architect * Denis Pelli (born 1954), Professor of Psychology and Neural Science at New York University * Fulvio Pelli (born 1951), Swi ...
. The campus is located on 300 acres, adjacent to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, American's
fortress hub An airline hub or hub airport is an airport used by one or more airlines to concentrate passenger traffic and flight operations. Hubs serve as transfer (or stop-over) points to help get passengers to their final destination. It is part of the ...
. Before it was headquartered in Texas, American Airlines was headquartered at 633 Third Avenue in the Murray Hill area of
Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...
, New York City. In 1979, American moved its headquarters to a site at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, which affected up to 1,300 jobs.
Mayor of New York City The mayor of New York City, officially Mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property ...
Ed Koch described the move as a "betrayal" of New York City. American moved to two leased office buildings in Grand Prairie, Texas."American Airlines Finishes Moving into Headquarters Monday"
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
at '' Ocala Star-Banner''. January 16, 1983. 6A. ''
Google News Google News is a news aggregator service developed by Google. It presents a continuous flow of links to articles organized from thousands of publishers and magazines. Google News is available as an app on Android, iOS, and the Web. Google rel ...
'' 4 of 62. Retrieved August 27, 2009.
On January 17, 1983, the airline finished moving into a $150 million ($ when adjusted for inflation), facility in Fort Worth; $147 million (about $ when adjusted for inflation) in Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport bonds financed the headquarters. The airline began leasing the facility from the airport, which owns the facility. Following the merger of US Airways and American Airlines, the new company consolidated its corporate headquarters in Fort Worth, abandoning the US Airways headquarters in Phoenix, AZ. As of 2015, American Airlines is the corporation with the largest presence in Fort Worth.Brown, Steve
"American Airlines will build new headquarters in Fort Worth"

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. ''
The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''Galvesto ...
''. October 22, 2015. Retrieved on October 27, 2015. "Robert Sturns, Fort Worth's economic development director, said the city was committed to keeping its largest corporate citizen."
In 2015, American announced that it would build a new headquarters in Fort Worth. Groundbreaking began in the spring of 2016 and occupancy completed in September 2019.Owens, Marjorie, Jason Whitely, and Jim Douglas.
American to build new headquarters in Fort Worth

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. ''
WFAA WFAA (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, United States, serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Decatur-licensed Estrella TV affiliate KMPX (channel 29), ...
''. October 22, 2015. Retrieved on October 24, 2015.
The airline plans to house 5,000 new workers in the building. It will be located on a property adjacent to the airline's flight academy and conference and training center, west of
Texas State Highway 360 State Highway 360 (SH 360) is a north–south state highway in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex in the U.S. state of Texas. It runs north from an at-grade intersection with US 287 in Mansfield, near the Ellis-Johnson county line to a ...
, west from the current headquarters. The airline will lease a total of from Dallas–Fort Worth International Airport and this area will include the headquarters. Construction of the new headquarters began after the demolition of the Sabre facility, previously on the site. The airline considered developing a new headquarters in
Irving, Texas Irving is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. Located in Dallas County, it is also an inner ring suburb of Dallas. The city of Irving is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. According to a 2019 estimate from the United States Census Bureau, ...
, on the old Texas Stadium site, before deciding to keep the headquarters in Fort Worth.


Corporate identity


Logo

In 1931, Goodrich Murphy, an American employee, designed the AA logo as an entry in a logo contest. The eagle in the logo was copied from a Scottish hotel brochure. The logo was redesigned by Massimo Vignelli in 1967. Thirty years later, in 1997, American Airlines was able to make its logo Internet-compatible by buying the domain AA.com. ''AA'' is also American's two-letter
IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is a trade association of the world's airlines founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tariff ...
airline designator. On January 17, 2013, American launched a new rebranding and marketing campaign with FutureBrand dubbed, "A New American". This included a new logo, which includes elements of the 1967 logo. American Airlines faced difficulty obtaining copyright registration for their 2013 logo. On June 3, 2016, American Airlines sought to register it with the
United States Copyright Office The United States Copyright Office (USCO), a part of the Library of Congress, is a United States government body that maintains records of copyright registration, including a copyright catalog. It is used by copyright title searchers who are ...
, but in October of that year, the Copyright Office ruled that the logo was ineligible for copyright protection, as it did not pass the threshold of originality, and was thus in the
public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...
. American requested that the Copyright Office reconsider, but on January 8, 2018, the Copyright Office affirmed its initial determination. After American Airlines submitted additional materials, the Copyright Office reversed its decision on December 7, 2018, and ruled that the logo contained enough creativity to merit copyright protection.


Aircraft livery

American's early
liveries A livery is an identifying design, such as a uniform, ornament, symbol or insignia that designates ownership or affiliation, often found on an individual or vehicle. Livery will often have elements of the heraldry relating to the individual or ...
varied widely, but a common livery was adopted in the 1930s, featuring an
eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...
painted on the fuselage. The eagle became a symbol of the company and inspired the name of American Eagle Airlines. Propeller aircraft featured an
international orange International orange is a color used in the aerospace industry to set objects apart from their surroundings, similar to safety orange, but deeper and with a more reddish tone. Variations of international orange Aerospace The Advanced Cre ...
lightning bolt running down the length of the fuselage, which was replaced by a simpler orange stripe with the introduction of jets. In the late 1960s, American commissioned designer Massimo Vignelli to develop a new livery. The original design called for a red, white, and blue stripe on the fuselage, and a simple "AA" logo, without an eagle, on the tail; instead, Vignelli created a highly stylized eagle, which remained the company's logo until January 16, 2013. On January 17, 2013, American unveiled a new livery. Before then, American had been the only major U.S. airline to leave most of its aircraft surfaces unpainted. This was because C. R. Smith would not say he liked painted aircraft and refused to use any liveries that involved painting the entire plane. Robert "Bob" Crandall later justified the distinctive natural metal finish by noting that less paint reduced the aircraft's weight, thus saving on fuel costs. In January 2013, American launched a new rebranding and marketing campaign dubbed, "The New American". In addition to a new logo, American Airlines introduced a new livery for its fleet. The airline calls the new livery and branding "a clean and modern update". The current design features an abstract American flag on the tail, along with a silver-painted fuselage, as a throw-back to the old livery. The new design was painted by Leading Edge Aviation Services in
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. Doug Parker, the incoming CEO indicated that the new livery could be short-lived, stating that "maybe we need to do something slightly different than that ... The only reason this is an issue now is that they just did it right in the middle, which kind of makes it confusing, so that gives us an opportunity, actually, to decide if we are going to do something different because we have so many airplanes to paint". The current logo and livery have had mixed criticism, with ''
Design Shack A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...
'' editor Joshua Johnson writing that they "boldly and proudly communicate the concepts of American pride and freedom wrapped into a shape that instantly makes you think about an airplane", and
AskThePilot.com
' author Patrick Smith describing the logo as 'a linoleum knife poking through a shower curtain'. Later in January 2013, Bloomberg asked the designer of the 1968 American Airlines logo ( Massimo Vignelli) on his opinion over the rebranding. In the end, American let their employees decide the new livery's fate. On an internal website for employees, American posted two options, one the new livery and one a modified version of the old livery. All of the American Airlines Group employees (including US Airways and other affiliates) were able to vote. American ultimately decided to keep the new look. Parker announced that American would keep a US Airways and America West heritage aircraft in the fleet, with plans to add a heritage TWA aircraft and a heritage American plane with the old livery. As of September 2019, American has heritage aircraft for Piedmont, PSA, America West, US Airways, Reno Air, TWA, and AirCal in their fleet. They also have two AA branded heritage 737-800 aircraft, an AstroJet N905NN, and the polished aluminum livery used from 1967 to 2013, N921NN.


Worker relations

The main representatives of key groups of employees are: * The Allied Pilots Association is an in-house union which represents the nearly 15,000 American Airlines pilots; it was created in 1963 after the pilots left the
Air Line Pilots Association The Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA) is the largest pilot union in the world, representing more than 59,000 pilots from 35 U.S. and Canadian airlines. ALPA was founded on 27 July 1931 and is a member of the AFL-CIO and the Canad ...
(ALPA). However the majority of American Eagle pilots are ALPA members. * The Association of Professional Flight Attendants represents American Airlines flight attendants, including former USAirways flight attendants. * Flight attendants at wholly owned regional carriers (Envoy, Piedmont, and PSA) are all represented b
Association of Flight Attendants – Communications Workers of America
(AFA-CWA). US Airways flight attendants were active members of AFA-CWA before the merger, and they are honorary lifetime members. AFA-CWA is the largest flight attendant union in the industry. * The Transport Workers Union-International Association of Machinists alliance (TWU-IAM) represents the majority of American Airlines employed fleet service agents, mechanics, and other ground workers. * American's customer service and gate employees belong to the
Communications Workers of America The Communications Workers of America (CWA) is the largest communications and media labor union in the United States, representing about 700,000 members in both the private and public sectors (also in Canada and Puerto Rico). The union has 27 loc ...
/ International Brotherhood of Teamsters Passenger Service Association.


Concerns and conflicts


Environmental violations

Between October 1993 to July 1998, American Airlines was repeatedly cited for using high-sulfur fuel in motor vehicles at 10 major airports around the country, a violation of the Clean Air Act.


Lifetime AAirpass

Since 1981, as a means of creating revenue in a period of loss-making, American Airlines had offered a lifetime pass of unlimited travel, for the initial cost of $250,000. This entitled the pass holder to fly anywhere in the world. 28 were sold. However, after some time, the airline realized they were making losses on the tickets, with the ticketholders costing them up to $1 million each. Ticketholders were booking large amounts of flights, and some ticketholders flying interstate for lunch or flying to London multiple times a month. AA raised the cost of the lifetime pass to $3 million, and then finally stopped offering it in 2003. AA then used litigation to cancel two of the lifetime offers, saying the passes "had been terminated due to fraudulent activity".


Cabin fume events

* In 1988, on American Airlines Flight 132's approach into Nashville, flight attendants notified the cockpit that there was smoke in the cabin. The flight crew in the cockpit ignored the warning, as on a prior flight, a fume event had occurred due to a problem with the auxiliary power unit. However, the smoke on Flight 132 was caused by improperly packaged hazardous materials. According to the NTSB inquiry, the cockpit crew persistently refused to acknowledge that there was a serious threat to the aircraft or the passengers, even after they were told that the floor was becoming soft and passengers had to be reseated. As a result, the aircraft was not evacuated immediately on landing, exposing the crew and passengers to the threat of smoke and fire longer than necessary. * On April 11, 2007, toxic smoke and oil fumes leaked into the aircraft cabin as American Airlines Flight 843 taxied to the gate. A flight attendant who was present in the cabin subsequently filed a lawsuit against Boeing, stating that she was diagnosed with neurotoxic disorder due to her exposure to the fumes, which caused her to experience memory loss, tremors, and severe headaches. She settled with the company in 2011. * In 2009, Mike Holland, deputy chairman for radiation and environmental issues at the Allied Pilots Association and an American Airlines pilot, said that the pilot union had started alerting pilots of the danger of contaminated bleed air, including contacting crew members that the union thinks were exposed to contamination based on maintenance records and pilot logs. * In a January 2017 incident on American Airlines Flight 1896, seven flight attendants were hospitalized after a strange odor was detected in the cabin. The Airbus A330 involved subsequently underwent a "thorough maintenance inspection", having been involved in three fume events in three months. * In August 2018, American Airlines flight attendants picketed in front of the Fort Worth company headquarters over a change in sick day policy, complaining that exposure to ill passengers, toxic uniforms, toxic cabin air, radiation exposure, and other issues were causing them to be sick. * In January 2019, two pilots and three flight attendants on Flight 1897 from Philadelphia to Fort Lauderdale were hospitalized following complaints of a strange odor.


Discrimination complaints

On October 24, 2017, the
NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...
issued a travel advisory for American Airlines urging
African Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
to "exercise caution" when traveling with the airline. The NAACP issued the advisory after four incidents. In one incident, a black woman was moved from first class to coach while her white traveling companion was allowed to remain in first class. In another incident, a black man was forced to give up his seats after being confronted by two unruly white passengers.The NAACP issues travel advisory for American Airlines, warning black passengers of 'disturbing incidents'
, PBS, October 25, 2017
According to the NAACP, while they did receive complaints on other airlines, most of their complaints in the year before their advisory were on American Airlines. In July 2018, the NAACP lifted their travel advisory saying that American has made improvements to mitigate discrimination and unsafe treatment of African Americans.NAACP lifts travel advisory against American Airlines
, PBS, July 17, 2018


Accidents and incidents

As of March 2019, the airline has had almost sixty aircraft
hull loss A hull loss is an aviation accident that catastrophically damages the aircraft beyond economical repair, resulting in a total loss. The term also applies to situations in which the aircraft is missing, the search for their wreckage is terminated ...
es, beginning with the crash of an American Airways Ford 5-AT-C Trimotor in August 1931. Of these most were propeller driven aircraft, including three Lockheed L-188 Electra turboprop aircraft (of which one, the crash in 1959 of Flight 320, resulted in fatalities). The two accidents with the highest fatalities in both the airline's and U.S. aviation history were Flight 191 in 1979 and Flight 587 in 2001. Out of the 17 hijackings of American Airlines flights, two aircraft were hijacked and destroyed in the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
: Flight 11 crashed into the north facade of the North Tower of the
World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...
, and
Flight 77 American Airlines Flight 77 was a scheduled American Airlines domestic transcontinental flight, transcontinental Airline, passenger flight from Washington Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia, to Los Angeles International Airport in ...
crashed into
the Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a metony ...
; both were bound for
LAX Los Angeles International Airport , commonly referred to as LAX (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles, California and its surrounding metropolitan area. LAX is located in the W ...
from
Boston Logan International Airport General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport , also known as Boston Logan International Airport and commonly as Boston Logan, Logan Airport or simply Logan, is an international airport that is located mostly in East Boston and partially ...
and
Washington Dulles International Airport Washington Dulles International Airport , typically referred to as Dulles International Airport, Dulles Airport, Washington Dulles, or simply Dulles ( ), is an international airport in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Eastern United States, loc ...
respectively. Other accidents include the Flight 383 engine failure and fire in 2016. There were two training flight accidents in which the crew were killed and six that resulted in no fatalities. Another four jet aircraft have been written off due to incidents while they were parked between flights or while undergoing maintenance.


Carbon footprint

American Airlines reported total CO2e emissions (direct and indirect) for the twelve months ending December 31, 2020, at 20,092 Kt (-21,347 /-51.5% y-o-y).Alt URL
The company aims to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.


See also

*
AAirpass AAirpass was a membership-based discount program offered by American Airlines to frequent flyers launched in 1981. The program is best known for a previous offering of unlimited travel on American Airlines and unlimited access to Admirals Club ...
*
Air transportation in the United States The United States has an extensive air transportation network. In 2013, there were 86 airports in the U.S. that annually handled over 1,000,000 passengers each
* List of airlines of the United States *
List of airports in the United States The list of airports in the United States is broken down into separate lists due to the large number of airports. Primary airports Public-use and military airports in each U.S. state and territory can be found on the following lists: Airports ...
*
U.S. Airways US Airways (formerly USAir) was a major United States airline that operated from 1937 until its merger with American Airlines in 2015. It was originally founded in Pittsburgh as a mail delivery airline called All American Aviation, which soon b ...
, which merged with American Airlines in 2013


Notes and references

; Notes ; References


Further reading

* * * * * * * * * *


External links

*
Official American Airlines Vacations website
{{Authority control Airlines based in Texas Airlines established in 1934 1934 establishments in the United States Airlines for America members Companies based in Fort Worth, Texas American Airlines Group Aviation in Arizona American companies established in 1934 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2011