On April 7, Robert Isom officially began his tenure as the new CEO of DFW-based American Airlines, the world’s largest passenger airline. Isom’s assumption of the role follows Doug Parker’s retirement after serving as American Airlines’ CEO for 20 years.
Although Isom has spent the past eight years as the company’s president and chief operations officer, this promotion brings an entirely new set of problems to resolve.
American Airlines has suffered from numerous issues in recent years, including a plethora of canceled flights, union disputes, and customer service complaints. The company was named “America’s Worst Airline” in both 2019 and 2020 by The Wall Street Journal. However, it tied with Frontier for sixth place (out of nine) in 2021.
Isom has stated his commitment to resolving the problems, telling the annual leadership conference in February that his two main goals as CEO will be to “run a reliable operation” and “get back to profitability,” The Dallas Morning News reports.
Profitability is a concern for many businesses in the airline sector due to two devastating years of COVID-19 disrupting travel plans, among other complications.
Last summer, American Airlines issued an apology to flight crew members and pilots after they arrived at hotels during overnight layovers to find that the airline had failed to make their hotel reservations. They were left to sleep inside airports, resulting in grievances filed by the two largest airline employee unions, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants and the Allied Pilots Association.
Outgoing CEO Parker championed Isom when the succession announcement was made last December.
“I have worked with Robert for two decades, and I am incredibly pleased that he will be the next CEO of American Airlines, which is truly the best job in our industry,” he said, according to GlobeNewswire.
Last December, Isom stated in his introductory press conference, “Looking ahead, I am deeply honored to be working alongside the best team in the industry and know that we will achieve great things together.”
Isom also noted in his remarks that American Airlines carries the most sizable number of passengers of any airline worldwide while maintaining the youngest fleet of planes, allowing for investments to be made in areas other than infrastructure.
Specific investments Isom plans to make remain to be seen.