What A Week It Has Been Inside American Airlines

For the past four days I have been living inside the American Airlines network, flying from Hartford to Dallas, to Los Angeles, to New York’s JFK to Chicago, now headed home … a day early … with one goal, to find out how the airline operates from the inside out, focusing on the company’s sustainability.

 

Now as I am on my last flight of this journey rereading my notes, reviewing my photographs, I am amazed at how a company that appears quite fractured to the outside world maintains a singular focus on moving forward despite significant internal struggles and divides.

 

As American Airlines reorganizes in bankruptcy, faces labour strife and seeks to avoid being forcibly merged the company is moving forward technologically, in premium services, replacing its fleet, as well as reallocating its internal resources and staff to become a more efficient airline in terms staffing, expenses and return on investment.

 

There is the issue of whether or not American Airlines entered into bankruptcy far later than they should have, however focusing on that is a matter for debate rather than a matter of reality.

 

In the coming week I will be breaking down how American Airlines is reducing its operating expenses, increasing its revenue streams, working to combine being ‘green’ and fiscal returns and its adjusting its passenger facing products.

 

Now however, after four days living in airports and on planes rather than spending my nights in hotel beds or finding the time to lay down, it is time to sleep before going through all my notes again and diving into where American Airlines is now and where it is headed.

 

On a side note, I’d like to thank American Airlines for allowing me essentially unrestricted access to speak with staff of all levels, from executives to rampers, freely and affording me the freedom to explore just about everything I wanted to explore within its network.

 

Below is a photo of the most frequent thing I saw during this week within American Airlines.

 

Happy Flying!

 

@flyingwithfish