American Airlines today
American Airlines is an American airline based in several airports
throughout the United States (including JFK Airport, Los Angeles Airport and
Miami Airport). It also ranks second in the world in terms of turnover. Today,
the company is the third largest airline in the world, serving more than 250
cities in 40 countries around the world, and flying nearly 3,400 daily flights.
American Airlines is part of the One World airline alliance it founded - it's
the third largest alliance after Star Alliance and SkyTeam? and which includes
15 members including British Airways or Finnair. Each year, the airline
transports more than 94 million people around the world.
History of American Airlines
In April 1926, the famous Charles Lindbergh took off from Chicago
in order to deliver mail to St. Louis on behalf of Robertson Aircraft, then
under contract with the US postal service. Created in 1929, Aviation
Corporation acquires small companies such as Robertson Aircraft to form
American Airways. In 1934, American Airways was renamed American Airlines and
the new company soon linked Boston, Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York
on a regular basis. By 1937, American Airlines exceeded one million passengers
and became the largest airline in the United States. In the 1970s, the famous
Mattel company dedicated a Barbie figurine dressed in the uniform of the
company. After reaching one billion passengers in 1991, it was the first
company in the world to launch the electronic ticket system in 1998. In 1999,
American Airlines co-founded the alliance of airlines Oneworld, which today
brings together 15 companies to global reach.
American Airlines and its customers
The American airline has set up a loyalty program to reward its
most frequent customers. As a member of the "AAdvantage", customers
accumulate a number of "miles" by flying on American Airlines or
Oneworld alliance airlines. When the customer's quota is large enough, it can
be used to borrow flights from the airline to more than 1000 destinations, to
get a room in a hotel or to get a car rental.
AMERICAN AIRLINES: TRAVEL CONDITIONS
Check-in and registration
All passengers can carry carry-on baggage in an American Airlines
flight, it must not exceed 114 cm in total. Other hand luggage such as purse,
briefcase or laptop is allowed. Checked baggage is not charged extra but the
weight requirements imposed by the American company vary depending on
destinations and ticket (a baggage of 23kg to 3 bags of 23 kg each). On an
American Airlines flight, additional baggage must be announced when the ticket
is purchased at a price of 75? by luggage, of a maximum of 23 kg. For excess
baggage, it will take an additional $ 100 for an extra 9 kilos. Beyond 32 kg,
recording is impossible.
For passengers traveling light (no checked baggage), the American
company offers an online check-in service, it can be done from 24 hours before
and up to 90 minutes before departure (45 minutes for flights within the United
States). To facilitate and speed up the process, the company provides travelers
with automatic check-in kiosks in some airports.
On board and after the flight
Conditions during the flight
Once on an American Airlines flight, a whole range of services is
offered, including for cheap tickets: an individual video screen with 12
programs to choose from and, of course, meals according to the duration of the
trip. Business class and first class passengers have more comfort (portable
digital tablet, seat-bed?) As well as priority access during check-in and
during boarding.
American Airlines offers its customers to join the "Saga
Club". For each flight with the airline, customers earn miles that they
can redeem for bonuses and privileges (free flights, upgrades, gift
certificates, etc.)
American Airlines and the pre-war years
The airline American Airlines constitutes, whatever the angle of
approach, one of the most important aeronautical companies of the world. She
played, and still plays, a leading role in the American skies. Historically,
American Airlines was born from the merger of 82 small American airlines. At
first, in 1930, these small local companies grouped themselves while remaining
independent under the label "American Airways" which represented, in
fact, a common sign to these disparate lines operating either on the west
coast, or on the east coast of the United States. Among them was Southern Air
Transport, based in Texas, Southern Air Fast Express (SAFE), operating the
western coastal cities, Universal Aviation, specializing in air-iron
association in the middle-west regions, Thompson Aeronautical Services, which
had inaugurated a Detroit Cleveland line in 1929, or Colonial Air Transport,
operating in the Northeast. With the need for rationalization, these carriers
eventually merged into American Airways Incorporated. This unitary company had
its headquarters in New York and soon the main cities of the American continent
were connected by regular lines, Boston, Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles and New
York being the main centers of activity. Despite this strategic merger,
American Airlines, from its earliest years, experienced financial difficulties,
leading to its acquisition by Errett Lobban Cord, an industrialist from the
automotive sector. It is this new owner who will rename, in 1934, the company
of its final name: American Airlines.
Cord entrusts the management of the American Airlines entity to
Texan businessman Cyrus Rowlett Smith. Until the date of its acquisition by
Cord, the company operated two types of trim engines provided by Fokker and
Ford. With the new leaders, the fleet is enriched by the two-plane Curtiss
Condor, equipped with berths, innovative idea for the time.Cyrus Rowlett Smith
then focuses on the development of the future DC-3 in partnership with Donald
Douglas, founder of the Douglas Aircraft Company. The first American Airlines
DC-3 will take off in 1936. Meanwhile, Cyrus Rowlett Smith is interested in the
construction of an airport in New York, under the authority of the mayor of the
city Fiorello La Guardia. The latter, son of Italian emigrants, a native of
Manhattan but having spent his youth in Arizona, was lastingly marked by the
consequences of the Great Depression of 1929, and ostensibly supports the
policy of President Franklin Roosevelt (the new deal) . The mayor is sensitive
to the development needs of his city and building an international airport is
one of the means. At the same time, this initiative of the political authority
serves the interests of American Airlines which will be able to open in the
heart of the airport, and for the sake of the comfort of its passengers, a
lounge away from all comers, reserved for American Airlines ticket holders
only. Soon, and to establish the image of the company, Smith creates a club
called "Admirals Club", reserved for the "VIP" and the
regular passengers of its lines, which are thus honored with the favors of
American Airlines. To stay in the "navigation" register that suggests
the name of the club, the receptionists are designated by the term of skippers
and the bartenders are called stewards.
This elitist commercial policy will soon be followed by other large
national companies and lounges for first-class customers. The lounges will be
multiplied. American Airlines inaugurates, in 1939, its second lounge in
Washington. Over the decades, membership of the Admirals Club will evolve.
Initially, the main idea was to encourage the relaxation of important users
before and after flights and the quality of membership left to the discretion
and appreciation of the commercial staff (chiefs of call). Use of the salons
can subsequently be opened to non-members by the acquisition of an annual card
whose price was $ 25 in 1967, or even a lifetime card costing $ 250 at the same
time. The system has changed over time and American Airlines has launched its
AAdvantage cards, which can be executive platinum, platinum or gold. These
cards entitle you to discounted journeys or free "miles".American
Airlines lounges now include internet access, faxes, computer loans, light
snacks, and the opportunity to be accompanied. Some also offer showers. This
universe that surrounds American Airlines is the opposite of the low cost
approach around which gravitate the younger companies, more eager to attract a
wider customer base than to provide additional comfort.
After the Second World War
After the second world war, American Airlines expanded its field of
action by putting into service two subsidiaries: American Overseas Airlines and
Lineas Aereas Americanas de Mexico. The goal is then to internationalize the
vocation of this company previously focused on North America. It is also an
opportunity to complete the fleet with the first Boeing 707 aircraft, which
notably make it possible to connect the east coast to the west coast non-stop
and to consider intercontinental flights. The modernization of American
Airlines also involves the development of the "Saber" system, the
first electronic rental system designed in partnership with IBM. Again, this
technique will inspire other large companies that will gradually adopt this
mode of booking. In the years following the war, American Airlines increased
its area and Honolulu (from Saint Louis, Missouri), Sydney (Australia) and
Auckland (New Zealand) were served. Serving the "Australian mainland"
involves only a stopover in the American Samoa. Innovation also affects the
flight crew. In 1973, Bonnie Tiburzi became the first female pilot of a large
international company. She has the qualification to fly on Boeing 727s.
In the late 1970s, American Airlines made the decision to move its
headquarters from New York to Dallas / Fort Worth Airport in Texas. The impact
of this change is strongly felt by the New York authorities because the
development of American Airlines had accompanied that of the city since the
origins of the airline. The new New York mayor Edward Irving Koch says Ed Koch
even evokes a real betrayal on the part of the management of American Airlines.
It is true that the transfer movement is accompanied by 1,300 jobs that have
disappeared.American Airlines inaugurates a new development policy by
installing hubs with relative autonomy from the company's headquarters. The
first of these bases - with the exception of Dallas, the new headquarters - is
set in Chicago under the leadership of its new president Robert Crandall.
It was around this time that the company inaugurated from these bases
- the international term dedicated is "hub" - its first scheduled
flights to Europe and Japan. Then come the hubs of San Jose California,
Charlotte North Carolina and Nashville Tennessee. Another axis of expansion,
American Airlines built under the acronym of American Eagle Airlines, a network
of regional companies serving the smaller US cities. In 1990, the company took
over the assets of TWA, a troubled company that would eventually be absorbed by
its rival in London, making the British capital an additional "hub"
to serve continental Europe. Paradoxically, the low level of fuel prices in the
1970s will be at the origin of a serious internal crisis crossed by the
company. Faced with the unexpected increase in profits related to this lower
cost, pilots demand their share and engage in a strike. It will take the
intervention of US President Bill Clinton who will calm the game in the name of
the best interests of the country to stop the action of pilots who will not
get, ultimately, full satisfaction of their wage demands. For his part, Robert
Crandall - still head of the company - had argued that since the deregulation
of air transport, which occurred a few years ago, 150 companies had to abandon
their activities in the sector and that the time had not come to weaken
American Airlines by yielding to wage demands. In the margins of this conflict,
the company continues its expansion policy by creating a new platform in Miami
(Florida) and extending its network to Latin America.
The historic turning point of September 11, 2001
Another turning point in the history of the company, American
Airlines founded, in 1999, the alliance "Oneworld". It is in
partnership with British Airways (based in London), Cathay Pacific
(headquartered in Hong Kong), Canadian Airlines (headquarters in Calgary,
Alberta) and Qantas Airways (Australian company Sydney), to create a real
transnational network through a logistical rapprochement. That same year,
American Airlines took delivery of its first Boeing 737 and 737-800 which come to
expand its fleet.
In the wake of these acquisitions, the company is soon bereaved by
the attacks of September 11, 2001. Two of its devices are used by terrorists.
One will crash on the World Trade Center, the other on the Pentagon. It is also
the flight 63 of the Paris-Miami line company that will retain Richard Reid in
his intention to explode the aircraft in flight by concealing explosives in his
shoe. Fortunately, his attempt will fail but the combination of these events
and the choice of the company will cause a real trauma to staff and potential
travelers. Indeed, we can see in this choice of kamikazes looking for a symbol,
American Airlines representing the all-powerful American. Of course, and as a
secondary aspect of the tragedy, the airline will suffer, for a time, from a
certain mistrust of potential travelers affecting its development, whereas 10
years earlier, it had celebrated its billionth passenger, although is not
responsible for failures of the airport protection system. But the candidates
for the trip will think that it was the symbol of American capitalism that it
represented that was targeted as much as the objectives retained and that the
risk of recidivism was not negligible.
Resumption of expansion
In 1998, Robert Crandall left the presidency and was replaced by
Donald J. Carty. The latter is in charge of negotiations on the bankruptcy of
TWA and the acquisition of its activities with the consequence of opening a new
base in St. Louis, Missouri, home base of the deceased competitor. The
operation is not without difficulties, particularly with regard to the staff of
TWA, which in many posts is duplicative. The following years are marked by a
chronic deficit in the profit and loss accounts. However, American Airlines
continues its expansion by investing in new markets including Ireland, India
and, essentially, mainland China, after inaugurating its longest regular line
with the daily Chicago - Shanghai line. This conquering policy, complemented by
a rationalization of costs, led to a resumption of the balance sheet and the
company announced in July 2005 to have returned to profit.
At the same time, the carrier redistributes the map of its
platforms to Tulsa (Oklahoma) which becomes a maintenance and repair center and
at the expense of Kansas City whose role decreases. The American Airlines fleet
is about to be renewed following the order of 76 Boeing 737-800 deliverable
between 2009 and 2012, to the detriment of the Airbus A300 gradually stowed on
the Roswell base (New Mexico). But the year 2009 is unfavorably marked by
suspicion, recounted by the American press, that the company has flaws in its
maintenance of the aircraft and illustrated by the accident, December 22, 2009,
of a plane of the line 331 linking Miami to Kingston (Jamaica) during the
landing. Without death, the incident will injure 90 of the 154 people on board.
Despite these difficulties, all things to put in perspective in
view of the importance of the American Airlines network, the company is now
interested in Japan Airlines, a Japanese national company financially drained.
On this possibility of acquisition or at least of entry into the capital,
American Airlines is in direct competition with the airline giant Air France -
KLM and the American Delta Air Lines, both partners in "Sky Team During
the Oneworld alliance of which American Airlines is a founding member.
In a constantly evolving market, American Airlines remains a major
player in air transport, whether it concerns the number of passengers carried,
the number of lines operated or the revenue generated, just behind Air France
KLM, and despite the proliferation of low cost airlines, it is true more
specialized, for the moment at least, on short and medium - haul flights. With
its comprehensive coverage of North America including over 70 destinations in
Anchorage, Alaska, Orlando, Florida, Houston, Texas, Washington, DC,
Albuquerque, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Palm Springs , Philadelphia, Portland,
etc., it has added Canada (Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary), the whole of
the Caribbean (Cayman Islands, Haiti, Santo Domingo), Central America
(Guatemala, Mexico, Panama ... ), the main South American destinations (Chile,
Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia ...), Asia in the broad sense (Beijing,
Shanghai, Delhi, Tokyo) and, on the natural terrain of Air France, 9
destinations including London , Paris, Milan, even Moscow. In total, the
company serves 170 destinations around the world.
American Airlines, with its blazon never modified to date,
representing its initials (one blue, the other red between which deploys a
stylized eagle) is an integral part of the American commercial aeronautics of
which it remains the spearhead. His conquering commercial slogans "We know
why you fly", "Fly the american way", "Based here. Best
here "show how much trust is building in the company under the leadership
of Gerard Arpey, the new director of the company. Moreover, American Airlines
was recently crowned best North American company and, in the 1970s, the famous
American doll company Barbie dedicated a figurine dressed in the uniform of the
company in tribute to its role in the radiation of the american way of life.
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