NEW YORK (AP) - American Airlines' CEO
acknowledges that passengers have had a rough few weeks on the airline
but says the carrier is working through its issues.
"The operational
performance is improving," CEO Tom Horton said in an interview with The
Associated Press on Monday. "We'll get past this just like other
airlines before us have."
The airline, which has been
in bankruptcy protection since November, saw its on-time performance
drop to 59 percent in September, according to Flightstats.com. In that
same period Delta, Southwest and U.S. Airways were all above 85 percent.
The airline has blamed the delays on pilots writing up extra
maintenance requests as part of an unsanctioned job action.
Delays and cancellations
snowballed after a federal bankruptcy judge ruled against the airline's
pilots, allowing management to impose new pay and work rules. Pilots
started filing more maintenance complaints, sometimes minutes before the
scheduled departure time, and flew circuitous routes.
The airline has cut flights
and added reserve crews and extra planes to cover any last-minute
delays. Now that the two sides are back at the bargaining table, Horton
says customers should notice more on-time flights.
"Unfortunately for a couple
of weeks there, it was very difficult on our customers," he said. He
said the company's operating performance is "not yet back to the level
we think our customers deserve and expect from American, but it has
improved significantly since the period right after the contract
rejection."
Despite its troubles,
Horton said American remains committed to safety. The airline grounded
48 of its 111 Boeing 757s last week after seats came loose on three
separate flights. The airline found a fix which Horton said should
prevent future problems.
"I think that's behind us," he said.
Horton presented four
colorful slides to The Associated Press, pressing the idea that despite
being in bankruptcy protection, American has been outperforming the rest
of the industry in its passenger revenue growth. The six months of
strong revenue come from recent revenue-sharing deals with British
Airways and Japan Airlines and from strong demand for travel to Latin
America.
"Airlines typically underperform the industry in the months following restructuring. We've done just the opposite," Horton said.
The charts stated - without
providing any specific numbers - that since American entered bankruptcy
protection, it has renewed or won more corporate travel agreements than
over the same period a year prior.
Horton would not discuss a
potential merger with US Airways Group Inc. The two companies announced
on Aug. 31 that they had signed non-disclosure agreements. In a separate
interview Monday, the CEO of British Airways said his company was
prepared to buy a minority stake in American's parent, AMR Corp., if
Horton asked.
"If American asks for it, I
think that would be a big step," said Willie Walsh, CEO of
International Consolidated Airlines Group, the parent of British Airways
and Iberia.
He noted that American
doesn't necessarily need the money but his company would invest to help
cement their existing partnership.
"We think an investment in a
restructured American will be a good investment. That's why we said
we'd be very happy to look at it if the opportunity presented itself and
if Tom welcomed it," Walsh said.
Foreign investors are prohibited from owning more than 25 percent of a U.S. airline.
"We've never put a figure
on it but I can't see anything above 10 percent to be honest with you,"
Walsh said. "But again I'm speculating because we haven't done any
formal analysis. But we're not looking for a significant minority
stake."
