Q: Who is American Airlines and what should we know about you?
Founded in 1930, American Airlines is now one of the largest airlines in the world. American’s purpose is to care for people on life’s journey, and together with regional partner American Eagle we offer an average of nearly 6,700 flights per day to nearly 350 destinations in more than 50 countries. American has hubs in Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Washington, D.C. American is a founding member of the oneworld® alliance, whose members serve more than 1,000 destinations with about 14,250 daily flights to over 150 countries.
Q: What is unique about your business that makes you stand out?
We’re caring for more customers than any other airline, and our team is doing so safely and with great care for our customers. We reshaped our networks, simplified our fleet and built efficiencies into the business during the COVID-19 pandemic that will serve us well for years to come.
Q: What has been the most valuable aspect of your Chamber membership?
The ability to network with other middle Tennessee businesses to increase our brand awareness in the region.
Q: What’s your biggest goal for your company in the this year?
At the beginning of 2021, American set forth our Green Flag plan, a set of initiatives that we have focused on to reset the airline and make American stronger as we come out of the crisis. This plan focuses on four key objectives: doubling down operational excellence, reconnecting with our customers, building on the positive momentum we’ve established previously, and passionately driving efficiencies. This plan was created so that, when the pandemic started to subside and the “green flag” drops, American would be ready. That green flag has dropped. We are indeed ready, and the American Airlines team is delivering results against our objectives.
Q: What best business practices have you learned from 2020 and what did you do to be creative to remain in business?
Our goal throughout the pandemic was to keep our capacity aligned with demand while being flexible enough to adapt as needed. Aside from lowering our cost structure, we focused on furthering our innovative partnerships with other airlines to improve our value proposition to customers. We’ve also reshaped our own route network to focus on where customers want to fly right now, and we are planning for exciting new routes in the future. We have continued to simplify and harmonize our fleet to be more efficient both operationally and financially while offering a more consistent product for our customers.
Learn more about American Airlines at their website here.
