American Airlines

American Airlines

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American Airlines

Describe the airline, its aircraft fleet, route structure and number of employees

American Airlines is one of the pioneers of the airline business in the world. The airline was formed in 1930 after more than 80 small airlines joined together. The origin of the companies that ultimately became American Airlines dates farther back. It credits its origin from Robertson Aircraft Corporation and Colonial Air Transport. Robertson Aircraft Corporation was established in 1921 whereas Colonial Transport was established in 1923. The two companies merged to a holding company called The Aviation Corporation in 1929 before being rebranded into an operating company in 1934 as American Airlines. American Airlines has since then grown in leaps and bounds mainly through mergers and acquisitions to become one of the largest airline in the world in terms of revenue passenger mile, fleet size, and scheduled passengers carried (Reed, & Reed, 2014). The airline, together with its regional partner, American Eagle, operates an extensive domestic and international network that comprises of approximately 6,700 daily flights to more than 350 destinations in more than 50 countries across the globe. American Airlines is a founding member of the Oneworld®Alliance, a group of leading airlines in the world, whose members provide more than 14,000 daily flights to approximately 1,000 destinations in 150 countries. American Eagle is the regional carrier of American Airlines. American Eagle is made up of a network of 6 regional carriers that have a codeshare and service agreement with American Airlines. American Eagle operates more than 3,400 daily flights to 240 destinations in the U.S., Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean.

Three of the six regional carriers of American Eagle are subsidiaries of American Airlines Group, the parent company of American Airlines. These include Envoy Air, Piedmont Airlines Inc., and PSA Airlines Inc. Envoy operates 80 aircraft that provide 900 daily flights to more than 150 destinations across the globe. It has more than 15,000 employees. The headquarters of the subsidiary are in Irving, Texas. Piedmont Airlines Inc. operates daily regional flights to 80 locations in the eastern U.S. Its hubs are in Philadelphia and Charlotte. PSA Airlines operates almost 150 aircraft and provides 700 daily flights to 90 domestic destinations. The subsidiary has more than 3,500 employees. Its headquarters are in Dayton, Ohio. American Airlines has also contracted three regional carriers under the American Eagle network. These include Mesa, Republic, and SkyWest. As of February 2021, American Airlines had the largest commercial fleet in the world. The airline had 888 aircraft, which comprised of Boeing and Airbus planes. During the fiscal year 2020, the total number of employees of American Airlines was 102,700 (American Airlines Group, 2021).

Determine whether the airline is organized as a corporation with private ownership or is owned by the national government

American Airlines Group is the holding company of American Airlines. The holding company was established in December 2013. After the merger of AMR Corporation, the previous holding company of American Airlines and U.S Airways Group, the previous holding company of U.S. Airways. AMR has 72% ownership of American Airlines Group whereas the shareholders of U.S. Airways own the remaining 28% of the shares (Spector & Carey, 2013). American Airways Group is listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the code name AAL. The wholly-owned subsidiaries of American Airlines Group include American Airlines, Envoy Air Inc., Piedmont Airlines Inc., and PSA Airlines Inc. American Airlines Groups also has a 10% stake in Mesa Airlines Group, which operated under the American Eagle brand. It also has a 2.68% share ownership of China Southern Airlines.

Identify the governmental agency or authority responsible for regulation of the safety of the airline’s flight operations in its home nation

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are the federal agencies responsible for regulating safety of American Airlines operations in the U.S.

FAA is the agency that is responsible for the regulation and oversight of civil aviation within the U.S. The major responsibility of the agency is ensuring the safety of civil aviation. As such, the FAA issues and enforces the minimum standards on operating and maintain aircraft. It also issues certifications of pilots. The FAA also assigns the use of U.S. airspace to American Airlines. It is responsible for air traffic management (ATM) of all planes, including American Airlines planes, within the U.S. airspace.

TSA is another federal agency that regulates the safety of American Airlines’ operations within the domestic market. TSA was created after the 9/11 to improve the security of American national transportation system while facilitating the movement of people and commerce. TSA ensures the security of American airports. The federal agency also screens and commercial airline passengers and baggage (Reed, & Reed, 2014).

The domestic operations of American Airlines are also regulated by NTSB. NTSB is an independent federal agency that is tasked with the responsibility of investigating transportation accidents, undertaking transportation safety studies, issuing safety recommendations, helping families of victims of air and passenger rail disasters, and improving transportation safety (Reed, & Reed, 2014). Therefore, NTSB investigates any air crashes involving American Airlines and provides safety recommendations to avoid the occurrence of similar air crashes in the future.

Describe the certification requirements, including minimum flight time, if any, for commercial airline flight deck crewmembers in the airline’s home nation

The FAA has strict certification requirements for commercial airline flight deck crewmembers of airlines operating in the U.S. To acquire a commercial pilot’s license, one is required to be at least 18 years old. The applicant should also be able to read, write, and speak English. To get a commercial pilot certification one should also have at least 250 hours of flight training. The pilot should have spent at least 100 hours in a powered aircraft with 50 hours of the 100 hours being in airplanes. The pilot should also have at least 100 hours of pilot-in-command flight time. Of this 100 hours, at least 50 hours should be in airplanes and at least 50 hours should be in cross-country flight with at least 10 hours of these being in airplanes. The pilot should also have at least 20 hours training on the areas of operation of an aircraft. The training should take place in a technically advanced airplane. This refers to an airplane that has an electronic primary flight display comprising of all six primary instruments, which include altimeter, airspeed indicator, vertical speed indicator, attitude indicator, heading indicator, and turn coordinator (Hersch, 2020). A technically advanced airplane also has an electronic multifunction display that comprises of a GPS-based moving map that has the aircraft displayed on the screen. It also has a two-axis autopilot with navigation and heading modes.

Identify the governmental agency or authority, if any, empowered to regulate the routes flown, rates charged, and other economic aspects of the airline’s flight operations

The Department of Transportation (DOT) and the FAA regulate American Airline’s flight operations in the U.S. American Airlines is allowed to set its own domestic fares without interference by any government agency or authority. The domestic fares are determined by the market factors. However, the DOT regulates a limited set of international charges, fares, and rates of the airline. This provides the airline with the opportunity to set its fares since the control only has limited control on the international fares the airline should charge its customers. American Airlines also has to abide by international rates and fares set by foreign governments in the international destinations it has operations. The airline is required by the U.S. government to collect a ticket tac on the domestic and international routes it operates in. This enables the government to levy excise tax on the charges and fees of the airline.

American Airlines is also required to collect passenger facility charges, security fees, and taxes. Even though these do not constitute the operational costs of the airline, they are additional cost to the customers. The fees and taxes charged vary from time to time based on the recommendation of the regulatory authorities.

The DOT also regulates how the airline interacts with passengers who are at the airport, during ticketing, and on the aircraft. The airline is required to refund the fees checked for bags if there are delays. The DOT also has several regulations on the process of reporting mishandled bags, flight delays, requisite customer disclosures, displayed online fares, and access provided to disabled passengers. The international fares that American Airlines and other airlines in the U.S. charge depend on the agreements between the U.S. and other countries or regional bodies such as the EU.

The DOT has open sky agreements with more than 100 countries, which enable American Airlines to have unlimited access to the foreign markets of these countries. American Airlines is also required to have passenger protection rules that align with those set by the DOT. If the passenger protection rules of the airline are more vigorous that those set by the DOT, the airline should meet the additional burdens and liabilities of these rules.

Security is one of the major issues in aviation in the U.S. It has an economic impact on American Airlines. The TSA regulates various security-related issues in aviation. For instance, it regulates passenger data for immigration and security controls. It also performs background checks on airline employees and vendors that have access to secure areas in airports (Forrest, & Price, 2020). It also ensures there is enhanced screening of cargo, passengers, and baggage. The imposition of passenger fees, air carrier fees, and use of taxpayers’ funds helps in offsetting these costs. These costs ultimately affect the airfare charged by American Airlines and other airlines in the U.S.

American Airlines also incurs certain costs to meet environmental regulations. The airline is required to meet environmental laws under the Environmental Protection Agency such as the Clean Air Act and the Airport Noise and Capacity Act. The European Union, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and state regulations in the U.S. also require American Airlines and other airlines to reduce their gas emissions. Reducing the emissions requires the airline to retire old aircraft, purchase new fuel-efficient aircraft, replacing heaving cargo containers with lighter containers, and replace ground handling equipment with energy efficient equipment. Implementing these measures has cost implications on the airline (Arblaster, 2018).

Determine the extent to which the airline’s fleet consists of owned vs. leased aircraft

As of December 31, 2020, American Airlines had a fleet of 855 aircraft with American Eagle operating an additional 544 regional aircraft. During the fiscal year 2020, the airline accepted the delivery of 30 aircraft with American Eagle accepting the delivery of 17 aircraft for regional operations. American Airline also retired 95aircraft with American Eagle retiring 63 aircraft. During the fiscal year 2020, American Airlines accelerated the retirement of Airbus A330-200, Airbus A330-300, Boeing 757, Boeing 767, and Embraer 190 in addition to accelerating the retirement of Embraer 140 and Bombardier CRJ200 aircraft involved in regional operations. The retirement of these aircraft reduced the complexity of the operations of the airline and increased efficiencies and cost savings related to operating fewer types of aircraft (American Airlines Group, 2021).

As of December 31, 2020, the mainline fleet of American Airlines comprised of 423 owned aircraft and an additional 432 leased aircraft. The aircraft owned by the airline comprised of 21 Airbus A319, 10 Airbus A320, 164 Airbus A321, 9 Airbus A321neo, 111 Boeing 737-800, 9 Boeing 737-8 Max, 44 Boeing 777-200ER, 18 Boeing 777-300ER, 20 Boeing 787-8, and 17 Boeing 787-9 aircraft. The leased aircraft in the mainline fleet comprised of 112 Airbus A319, 38 Airbus A320, 54 Airbus A321, 19 Airbus A321neo, 171 Boeing 737-800, 25 Boeing 737-8 Max, 3 Boeing 777-200ER, 2 Boeing 777-300ER, 3 Boeing 787-8, and 5 Boeing 787-9 aircraft. The average age of the aircraft in the mainline fleet is 10.8 years, which is one of the lowest in the U.S. (American Airlines Group, 2021).

As of December 31, 2020, the fleet under the regional carriers that operated as American Eagle comprised of 336 owned aircraft, 7 leased aircraft, and 201 aircraft that were owned or leased by a third party regional carrier, which brought the total number of aircraft under the American Eagle regional carrier to 544. The aircraft in the regional fleet comprised of 126 Bombardier CRJ 700, 123 Bombardier CRJ 900, 173 Embraer 175, 8 Embraer 140, and 114 Embraer 145. The regional carriers owned 54 Bombardier CRJ 700 with an additional 7 leased aircraft. An additional 65 Bombardier CRJ 700 aircraft was owned or leased by a third party regional carrier. SkyWest operated 65 Bombardier CRJ 700 with PSA operating the other 61 Bombardier CRJ 700. The regional carriers also owned 69 Bombardier CRJ 900 with an additional 54 aircraft of the same model being owned or leased by a third party carrier. PSA operated 69 Bombardier CRJ 900 with Mesa operating the remaining 54 aircraft of the same model (American Airlines Group, 2021).

Regional carriers also owned 91 Embraer 175 with an additional 82 aircraft of the same model being owned or leased by third party regional carrier. Envoy and Mesa operated 91 and 82 Embraer 175 aircraft respectively. Envoy was the only regional carrier that owned Embraer 140 aircraft. There were no leased aircraft or aircraft of the same model owned or operated by third a regional carriers. Envoy operated 8 Embraer 140 in its fleet (American Airlines Group, 2021).

The regional carriers owned 114 Embraer 145 aircraft. There were no additional aircraft of the same model that were leased aircraft or owned or operated by third a regional carrier. Piedmont operated 57 Embraer 145 with Envoy operating a similar number of aircraft of the same model (American Airlines Group, 2021).

As of December 2020, American Airlines had definitive agreements for the purchase of an additional 92 Airbus A320neo. The scheduled delivery date of the aircraft was 16 aircraft in 2021, 26 aircraft in 2022, 5 aircraft in 2023, 18 aircraft in 2024, 22 aircraft in 2025, and 5 aircraft after 2025. American Airlines also had definitive agreements for the purchase of 66 additional aircraft within the Boeing 737 MAX family. The scheduled delivery date for the aircraft was 9 aircraft in 2021, 10 aircraft in 2022, 7 aircraft in 2023, 20 aircraft in 2025, and 20 aircraft after 2025. American Airlines also had definitive agreements for the purchase of 44 aircraft within the Boeing 878 family. The scheduled delivery date for the aircraft was 19 aircraft in 2021, 6 aircraft in 2023, 6 aircraft in 2024, 8 aircraft in 2025, and 5 aircraft after 2025 (American Airlines Group, 2021).

Identify and describe all accidents involving an aircraft operated by that airline since 1/01/2000, including the probable cause of each

Aircraft operated by American Airlines have experienced several accidents since January 1, 2000. The first accident in the 21st century occurred on November 20, 2000. American Airlines Flight 1291, an Airbus A300, which departed from Miami with a planned flight to Haiti was forced to return to Miami after smoke was detected in the lavatory of the aircraft 11 minutes after departure. When the aircraft landed in Miami, the pilot ordered an emergency evacuation. However, upon landing the aircraft had not depressurized due to a blocked valve. When one of the passengers attempted to open the emergency exit doors, he was hurled by 1500 pounds of pressure to more than 40 feet after the door suddenly burst open.

On May 23, 2000, the right landing gear of American Airlines Flight 1107, a Fokker 100 aircraft, which was flying on a scheduled flight from Charlotte/Douglas International Airport, collapsed on the runway when the aircraft landed in Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. The pilot was able to maintain the directional control of the aircraft and brought it to a stop on the runway. The cause of the accident was metal fatigue in the landing gear’s outer cylinder. There were no serious injuries of the passengers and crew in the aircraft.

Two of the four planes hijacked during September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the U.S. were operated by American Airlines. The first accident involved American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767-200 that was on a scheduled flight from Boston to Los Angeles. After being hijacked, the aircraft was flown in the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The accident led to the death of all 92 passengers and crew on the aircraft and 1,402 people within the vicinity of the impact zone of the accident. This incident is the deadliest in American Airlines history in addition to being the deadliest on U.S. soil. The second aircraft involved American Airlines flight 77, a Boeing 757-200, which was on a scheduled flight from Dulles, Virginia to Los Angeles California. The aircraft was hijacked and flown into the Pentagon leading to the death of 64 passengers and crew aboard the aircraft and an additional 125 people in the Pentagon building (Reed, & Reed, 2014).

On November 12, 2001, American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300 crashes in Belle Harbor, New York a few minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. The crash was caused by the breaking off of the vertical stabilizer due to the overuse of the rudder by the first officer as attempted to counter wake turbulence from a Boeing 747 aircraft ahead of the aircraft. The accident led to the death of all 260 people aboard the aircraft and an additional 5 people on the ground.

On September 16, 2004, American Airlines Flight 1374, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82 that was on a scheduled flight from Chicago to Philadelphia experienced a bird strike soon after takeoff. The bird strike led to parts of the engine falling of near houses in Niles, Illinois. The pilot executed a successful emergency landing and no passengers or crew experienced any injury.

On September 28, 2007, American Airlines Flight 1400, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82 experienced that was departing from Lambert-St. Louis International Airport to O’Hare International Airport experienced an engine fire during takeoff. The aircraft had a successful emergency landing and no injuries were reported among the passengers and crew on the aircraft.

On December 22, 2009, American Airlines Flight 331, a Boeing 737-800 overran the runway at Kingston, Jamaica due to heavy rain when it was landing. The aircraft came to a halt outside the airport perimeter on the beach a few meters from the Caribbean Sea. The accident made the fuselage break into three pieces. More than 40 people were injured during the accident.

On October 28, 2016, American Airlines Flight 383, a Boeing 767-300ER that was on scheduled flight from Chicago to Miami suffered from a right engine fire as it was accelerating during takeoff. The takeoff was aborted and emergency crews on the airport successfully extinguished the fire. 20 people suffered minor injuries during the accident.

The latest accident involving an aircraft operated by American Airlines involved American Airlines Flight 300, an Airbus A321-200 that was on a scheduled flight from New York to Los Angeles. The aircraft experienced loss of control during takeoff. This make the aircraft bank sharply to the left. The left wing scraped the ground and collided with a runway sign. The aircraft pilot performed an emergency landing successfully. Even though the accident did not lead to any reported injuries, the plane was written off.

Determine whether the airline’s pilots and maintenance personnel based in the airline’s home nation are represented by a labor union or unions and identify and describe any strike activity that may have disrupted airline operations since 1/01/2000

The pilots of American Airlines are represented by Allied Pilots Association (APA). Pilots of Envoy, Piedmont, and PSA, the regional carriers or American Airlines, are represented by Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA). On the other hand, the maintenance personnel of American Airlines are represented by Transport Workers Union and International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers (TWU-IAM Association). The maintenance personnel of the Envoy are represented by Transport Workers Union (TWU). On the other hand, the maintenance personnel of Piedmont are represented by International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) with the maintenance personnel of PSA being represented by International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers (IAM) (American Airlines Group, 2021).

The Railway Labor Act is the federal legislation that governs labor relations in railroad and airline industries in the U.S. It gives the National Mediation Board (NMB) with the responsibility of mediating any labor relations disputes in the railroad and airline industries. The Railway Labor Act requires the parties to notify and negotiate with each other if there is a dispute. The parties can only request NMB to appoint a mediator if they fail to reach an agreement. If there is no agreement thereafter, the matter is referred to arbitration. If there is not agreement after arbitration, the labor union is at liberty to issue a strike notice after 30-days cooling off period.

There have been no strike activities that have disrupted the operations of American Airlines since January 1, 2000. The Railway Labor Act has laid out procedures for resolving labor relations disputes, which make it difficult for labor unions to issue a strike notice.

References

American Airlines Group. (2021, February 17). Annual report which provides a comprehensive overview of the company for the past year. Form 10-K. Retrieved from: https://americanairlines.gcs-web.com/static-files/8e328305-2df2-4726-910c-a7e44f091913Arblaster, M. (2018). Air Traffic Management: Economics, Regulation and Governance. New York, NY: Elsevier.

Forrest, J. & Price, J. (2020). Practical Aviation Security: Predicting and Preventing Future Threats. New York, NY: Elsevier.

Hersch, J. J. (2020). The Dangers of Automation in Airliners: Accidents Waiting to Happen. Yorkshire, PA: Pen & Sword Books Limited.

Reed, T., & Reed, D. (2014). American Airlines, US Airways and the creation of the world’s largest airline. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., drafters.

Spector, M. & Carey, S. (2013, February 13). AMR, US Airways Boards Separately Approve Merger Deal. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from: https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324616604578302623840646606