American Airlines

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American Airlines
American Airlines logo
American Airlines Boeing 787-8
IATA code : AA
ICAO code : EEL
Call sign : AMERICAN
Founding: 1930
Seat: Fort Worth , United States
United StatesUnited States 
Turnstile :

Home airport : Dallas-Fort Worth
IATA prefix code : 001
Management: * Doug Parker (Chairman & CEO )
  • Robert Isom (President)
Number of employees: 126,600 (2017)
Sales: 42.2 billion US $ (2017)
Passenger volume: 199.6 million (2017)
Alliance : oneworld
Frequent Flyer Program : AAdvantage
Fleet size: 870 (+ 225 orders)
Aims: National and international
Website: www.aa.com

American Airlines is an American airline owned by the American Airlines Group and headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas .

American Airlines goes back to a 1930 formed association of American regional airlines. Shortly after the Second World War , the company began international passenger flights through subsidiaries and in the 1950s was considered the second largest airline in the world after Aeroflot . In the 1970s, the global route network was expanded. American is one of the major carriers in the United States and, along with Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, is one of the last traditional scheduled airlines with an extensive route network in the United States. The company is a founding member of the airline alliance oneworld and was considered since the takeover of Trans World Airlines in 2001 as the largest airline in the world before it was overtaken by Delta Air Lines in 2009. Both the Group's own and third-party airlines operate feeder flights on behalf of American via the American Eagle umbrella brand .

In November 2011, American filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after high losses , which the company was able to protect itself from as one of the few major US airlines as a direct result of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 . On December 9, 2013 , American Airlines merged with US Airways to form the largest airline in the world, thereby leaving the bankruptcy proceedings. The American Airlines Group was created in 2013 from the merger of the AMR Corporation and the US Airways Group.

history

Founding years

An American Airlines Douglas DC-3 in 1943
A Douglas DC-6 American Airlines, 1962

At the end of the 1920s, the Aviation Corporation ( AVCO for short ), a holding company that belongs to today's Textron Group , acquired stakes in several airlines, including Universal Air Lines System . On January 25, 1930, Avco merged all of the airlines it took over with Universal Air Lines System , which was then renamed American Airways . American Airways also acquired the route rights of these individual companies through the merger. These included connections from Boston and New York to Chicago and from there to Dallas. In addition, Walter Folger Brown , the then United States Postmaster General , granted the company line rights between Dallas and Los Angeles in 1930. When AVCO sold its shares in the company after the US airmail scandal in 1934, EL Cord took over the airline, which had been renamed American Airlines . The first CEO was Cyrus Rowlett Smith .

During the Second World War , the airline carried out many troop transports. The company is still one of the scheduled and charter airlines used by the US military to transport troops.

Jet age

American Airlines was the launch customer of the piston engine - propeller aircraft of type DC-2 , DC-3 , DC-4 , DC-6 and DC-7 . The first turboprop aircraft was a Lockheed L-188 Electra . On January 25, 1959, the Boeing 707 was the first jet aircraft to go into operation. American Airlines chose the DC-10 as its first customer in 1968 following its own tender . The first Boeing 747 was purchased on March 2, 1970. In 1984 American Airlines became a major customer for 67 aircraft and an additional 100 options for the McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82 after introducing this type in 1983. American Airlines is by far the largest operator of the MD-80 series.

Innovations at the end of the 20th century

In the early 1960s , American Airlines worked with IBM to develop the first electronic booking system, Saber . AA introduced the frequent flyer program with bonus miles system as a marketing tool in 1981 : the AAdvantage program still has the most participants worldwide. AA also revolutionized the aviation industry with sophisticated revenue management in the management of capacity utilization, costs and sales prices . In 1999, American Airlines was a founding member of the oneworld airline alliance. Canadian Airlines International was American's main code-sharing partner.

2000s

An American Airlines Airbus A300 , 1992

In April 2001, the bankrupt Trans World Airlines (TWA) was bought out, creating the largest airline in the world with the merged company. In the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 , two American Airlines planes were hijacked, one of which was steered by the suicide bombers into the World Trade Center in New York City and the other into the Pentagon in Arlington . American Airlines , along with United Airlines , US Airways, Delta Air Lines , Continental Airlines, and Boeing , filed a lawsuit against the FBI and CIA for the September 11, 2001 attacks . The aim is to clarify the question of whether the airline industry is complicit in the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and / or whether its reactions were correct and appropriate.

On August 25, 2009 the last flight with an Airbus A300-600R landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport . The A300 served American Airlines for 21 years. The A300 routes were taken over by Boeing 757s .

insolvency

On November 29, 2011, American Airlines, its parent company AMR and several subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Flight operations were maintained. The aim of the move was to get rid of high debts in order to be able to continue working. American Airlines has long made heavy losses. In the first nine months of 2011 alone, a loss of $ 884 million was incurred. According to the airline, the high kerosene costs and fierce competition are causing problems .

New corporate design

On January 17, 2013, American Airlines presented a completely new corporate design after 30 years . In addition to painting the aircraft, the company's logo will also be replaced by a completely new version. In the future, the company will also refrain from purely clear varnishing of its aircraft, giving way to matt gray paint.

Merger with US Airways

On February 14, 2013, US Airways and AMR Corporation, the parent company of AA, announced that they would merge to form the world's largest airline, American Airlines , whose headquarters will be Fort Worth . The merged company will continue to operate under the name American Airlines after regulatory and shareholder approvals , will be led by US Airways CEO Doug Parker, and will be the world's largest airline in terms of passenger-kilometers. Both airlines were hoping for savings of US $ 1.2 billion at the time -Dollar. In addition, American Airlines now offers routes on the US east coast, where it was previously considered to be underrepresented.

The United States Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the proposed merger in August 2013, as the US government anticipated deterioration for passengers. According to the ministry, price increases and poorer service would be the result. In addition, local competition in commercial air traffic could also slow down. In the meantime, however, an agreement was reached and the merger was finally approved. In order to prevent high prices due to the dominant position of the new airline, American Airlines and US Airways have to cede some boarding gates and take-off or landing slots at major American airports to low-cost airlines.

American Airlines and US Airways received their joint operating license on April 8, 2015, after numerous operational processes had been formally standardized. All flights are now operated with the callsign American .

Introduction of the Boeing 787

With the addition of the Boeing 787-9 , American Airlines is the first American airline to introduce a really new class of transport called Premium Economy . In the future, the new class is to be introduced on international Boeing 777 , Boeing 787 and Airbus A330 flights . On September 13, 2016, the first Boeing 787-9 was taken over by the airline, with 25 more to follow.

Destinations

Important hubs are Dallas / Ft.Worth , Chicago-O'Hare , Miami , San Juan and New York-John F. Kennedy . The airports of London Heathrow and Los Angeles are also heavily frequented .

American Airlines flies to almost all US states as well as Puerto Rico . There is a dense network especially in the Caribbean and Central America ; Canada is also served. Some destinations in Europe and South America are served on an intercontinental basis, Shanghai , Beijing and Tokyo in East Asia . There have been flights to Sydney ( Australia ) since 2015 and Auckland ( New Zealand ) since 2016 .

Goals in German-speaking countries

As of May 2019, American Airlines served three destinations in Germany and one destination in Switzerland ; Austria , Belgium and Luxembourg are not served.

Former destinations in German-speaking countries

From 1989 to 1990 there were flights from New York / JFK from Hamburg with a stop in Brussels and Stuttgart with a stop in Zurich, both with Boeing 767-200ER . There was also a flight from Chicago via Brussels to Düsseldorf and, in the early 1990s, the Chicago - Berlin / Tegel - Munich route for a short time , both with Boeing 767s .

From 2013, the Düsseldorf - Chicago-ORD route (AA241) was served by Boeing 767-300ER , but this was reduced to a seasonal flight in summer in 2014 and was finally discontinued in 2016.

Since the summer flight schedule for March 25, 2018, Zurich will no longer be served from New York-JFK, but from Philadelphia .

In the 2019 summer season, American Airlines flew from Philadelphia with a Boeing 767-300ER to Berlin / Tegel. The route was offered four times a week from June to September. Although a return was planned for 2020, this did not happen due to the Corona crisis, at the beginning of July 2020 Berlin was finally completely deleted from the flight plan.

Code sharing

American Airlines also works with numerous codeshare partners, including British Airways , Iberia , LATAM Airlines , Finnair , Japan Airlines and Qantas Airways . There is a code share agreement with the airline GOL for destinations in Brazil and Latin America .

fleet

Current fleet, American Airlines

An American Airlines Embraer 190 , 2016
An American Airlines Boeing 737-800
An American Airlines Boeing 757
An American Airlines Airbus A321 , 2016
An American Airlines Boeing 777-200ER in oneworld special livery
An American Airlines Airbus A330 , 2014

As of May 2020, the American Airlines fleet consists of 870 aircraft with an average age of 10.7 years:

Aircraft type number ordered Remarks Seats Average age
Airbus A319-100 133 32 equipped with sharklets ;

two inactive; N742PS in " PSA Heritage" special livery;

N744P in " Piedmont Heritage" special livery;

N745VJ in " Allegheny Heritage" special livery;

N838AW in " America West Heritage" -Sonderbemalung

128 16.2 years
Airbus A320-200 48 150 19.1 years
Airbus A321-200 219 98 equipped with sharklets;

N578UW in " US Airways Heritage" special livery;

N116AN in Stand Up To Cancer & Marvel Studios' Avengers "special livery

181/187 7.8 years
Airbus A321-200
Transcontinental
First delivery on November 22, 2013 102
Airbus A321neo 17th 53 Delivery from 2018; with CFM International LEAP-1A 196 0.6 years
Airbus A321XLR 50 - open -
Airbus A330-200 15th 258 8.5 years
Boeing 737-800 304 First delivery on February 7, 1999, with winglets ;

N917NN in "AirCal Heritage" special livery;

N905NN in "AstroJet Retro" special livery;

N916NN in " Reno Air Heritage" special livery;

N915NN in " TWA Heritage" special livery

76 Boeing 737-800, which were eingeflottet between 1999 and 2001 are due to the COVID-19 pandemic be ausgeflottet

160 10.6 years
Boeing 737 MAX 8 24 76 First delivery on September 28, 2017; all inactive since March 13, 2019; to partially replace older 737-800s 172 1.9 years
Boeing 777-200ER 46 260/289 19.5 years
Boeing 777-300ER 20th 310 6.3 years
Boeing 787-8 22nd 21st First delivery on January 22nd, 2015 226 4.1 years
Boeing 787-9 22nd 25th First delivery on September 13, 2016 285 2.6 years
total 870 225 10.7 years

Some aircraft are equipped with an Internet connection from Gogo Inflight Internet for passengers. The aircraft of the American Eagle subsidiary have no in-flight entertainment .

Former aircraft types, American Airlines

A Douglas DC-4 American Airlines, 1946
A Douglas DC-6 American Airlines, 1962
An American Airlines Convair CV-990 , 1962
The Stinson SM-6000 NC-11153 , acquired by Century Airlines in
1932, is American Airlines' oldest surviving aircraft

In the course of its existence, American Airlines also operated the following types of aircraft:

Current fleet, regional airlines

As of April 2020, a further 480 aircraft are being operated by subsidiaries and partner companies for regional and feeder flights in the name and on behalf of American Airlines under the name American Eagle .

American Eagle is an umbrella brand of American Airlines for various airlines that operate feeder flights on behalf of American. In addition to the airlines Envoy, PSA Airlines and Piedmont Airlines , all of which are owned by the American Airlines Group, the American Eagle group also includes airlines outside the American Airlines Group: SkyWest Airlines , ExpressJet Airlines , Republic Airline , Mesa Airlines , Trans States Airlines and Compass Airlines . Since the merger of American Airlines with US Airways, the feeder airline Air Wisconsin , which previously operated on behalf of US Airways and is also not part of the AAG Group, has also been part of the American Eagle group.

Aircraft type active ordered Remarks Seats Average age

(April 2020)

Bombardier CRJ200 19th 50 16.1 years
Bombardier CRJ700 62 65-76 15.2 years
Bombardier CRJ900 132 76-79 8.6 years
Embraer ERJ 135 47 44 17.8 years
Embraer ERJ 145 58 50 17.0 years
Embraer ERJ 175 162 76 6.0 years
total 480 8.0 years
A Short 330 in service with the American Eagle, 1989

Former aircraft types, regional airlines

A Saab 340 in service with the American Eagle, 2001

In the course of their existence, American Airlines' subsidiaries (American Eagle Airlines until they were renamed Envoy Air , PSA Airlines and Piedmont Airlines ) also operated the following aircraft types on behalf of the parent company:

Incidents

An identical design to the American Airlines Convair CV-240, which crashed on January 22, 1953 , 1948
An identical construction to the Lockheed L-188 Electra of American Airlines, Phoenix 1961 , which crashed on February 3, 1959

American Airlines recorded a total of 53 total losses of aircraft with 1,564 deaths in its history up to November 2018. Not included are the dead inside the building in the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Selection:

  • On January 22, 1953, an American Airlines Convair CV-240 ( aircraft registration number N94229 ) crashed into the city ​​while approaching Newark Airport, 5.5 kilometers southeast of the airport. All 23 people on board died, as well as 7 people on the ground.
  • On February 3, 1959, when an American Airlines Lockheed L-188A Electra (registration number N6101A ) crashed, 65 of the 73 people on board died when the pilots made a too steep approach to New York's La Guardia airport and the machine about 1500 meters ahead the runway flew into the East River . This was the first Electra crash.
  • On August 15, 1959, the crew of an American Airlines Boeing 707-123 carried out a test flight from Calverton-Peconic Airpark on Long Island . During the flight the machine began to yaw extremely. The crew did not correct the abnormal flight behavior, whereupon the aircraft rolled sideways and crashed as a result of a loss of control. The five-man crew was killed.
  • On September 14, 1960, the main landing gear of an American Airlines Lockheed L-188A Electra ( N6127A ) touched an unmarked levee just before the runway at New York-LaGuardia Airport. All 76 inmates survived; the machine has been irreparably damaged.
  • On January 28, 1961, the crew of an American Airlines Boeing 707-123 lost control of the machine on a training flight for unknown reasons. The machine crashed into the sea near Montauk , all six occupants died.
  • On March 1, 1962, an American Airlines Boeing 707-123B ( N7506A ) crashed almost vertically into the shallow water of Jamaica Bay about one minute after taking off from New York-Idlewild Airport . The reason was a malfunction of the rudder control, which resulted in a loss of control that could no longer be remedied. All 95 occupants, 8 crew members and 87 passengers were killed (see also American Airlines flight 1 ) .
  • On June 12, 1972 on American Airlines Flight 96 , the aft cargo door of a McDonnell Douglas DC- 10-10 ( N103AA ) over Windsor, Ontario opened and an explosive decompression occurred . Part of the cabin floor broke into the cargo hold below, which impaired the control cables running under the cabin floor for actuating the control surfaces. Nevertheless, the pilots were able to land the difficult-to-steer aircraft in Detroit. There were no dead.
  • On May 25, 1979, on American Airlines Flight 191, an engine of a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 (registration number N110AA ) broke off when taking off from Chicago and the hydraulic system was damaged. A few seconds later the uncontrollable machine crashed. 271 people and 2 died on board. To date, this is the worst single aircraft accident over American soil.
  • On December 20, 1995, an American Airlines Boeing 757-200 (registration number N651AA) flew on American Airlines Flight 965 during the approach due to a pilot error in a mountain near Cali , Colombia, with 159 killed of 163 people on board .
  • On June 1, 1999, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82 on American Airlines Flight 1420 (registration number N215AA ) from Dallas to Little Rock fell off the runway in a thunderstorm and hit a crash barrier behind the airport. Of the 145 people on board, 11 were killed.
  • On September 11, 2001, in the course of the terrorist attacks in the USA, in addition to two United Airlines aircraft , a Boeing 767-200ER ( American Airlines Flight 11 ) (registration number N334AA ) and a Boeing 757-200 (registration number N644AA ) of American Airlines kidnapped and flown into the north tower of the World Trade Center or the Pentagon and thus brought down (see also American Airlines flight 77 ) .
  • On November 12, 2001, an Airbus A300 (registration number N14053 ) flew from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to Santo Domingo through wake vortices created by a previously launched Boeing 747 . The copilot who was flying the aircraft at the time reacted with a series of full rudder deflections in both directions. As a result, the operational limits of the aircraft were exceeded, which resulted in the loss of the entire vertical stabilizer . The plane could no longer be controlled and crashed into a settlement. All 260 occupants and five people on the ground died (see American Airlines Flight 587 ) . The accident report named deficiencies in training as a major cause of the copilot's misconduct. Most pilots were of the wrong opinion that below the maneuvering speed, not only an isolated full deflection of a rudder, but all rudder movements in general, were permissible.
  • On December 22, 2009, a Boeing 737-800 (registration number N977AN ) coming from Miami shot over the end of the runway at Kingston Airport (Jamaica) when landing under adverse weather conditions. The aircraft on American Airlines Flight 331 broke the airport fence, crossed a street, and came to a halt on the beach behind the airport. A wing and engine were torn from the fuselage, which broke into three parts. Of the 148 passengers and 6 crew members on board, 44 were injured, 4 of them seriously.
  • On October 28, 2016, the right engine of a Boeing 767-300ER ( registration number N345AN ) caught fire during the take-off run at Chicago O'Hare Airport , causing the right wing to melt due to leaked, burning fuel. After the aborted start, all 161 passengers and 9 crew members were evacuated using the evacuation slides. 20 passengers and one flight attendant were slightly injured. The machine was on its way to Miami .

American Airlines logo from 1967 to 2013

The famous American Airlines logo was designed by Massimo Vignelli in 1967. In January 2013 American Airlines launched the new “A New American” marketing campaign, which is why this logo, which had been in continuous use since 1967, was replaced.

In December 2013, the new head of the merged airline asked employees to vote on whether they want the old logo (double-A) or the logo used since January 2013 on the aircraft's tail fin in future, with 51.9 percent opted for the latter. Around 60 percent of all employees took part in the vote. The new logo has been on all aircraft in American Airlines' main fleet since December 15, 2017, with the exception of McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82 / -83 aircraft, which are to be retired. A Boeing 737-800 ( registration number N921NN ) will not be repainted either, but will keep the old logo as " American Heritage " livery.

See also

Web links

Commons : American Airlines  - album with pictures, videos and audio files
 Wikinews: American Airlines  - in the news

Individual evidence

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  6. New world market leader - court approves merger of US airlines , manager-magazin.de, March 28, 2013
  7. aerosecure.de: Airlines suing FBI and CIA August 9, 2007
  8. fliegerweb.de: Airbus A300 retires with American Airlines August 27, 2009
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