American Airlines Needs A Leadership Change

All that being said, Parker’s time has clearly come, and American Airlines needs a leadership change. This isn’t me trying to hate on American, but I think this is a sentiment that a vast majority of people with various stakes in the airline would agree with.

Some people may think American’s current management team is only slightly dysfunctional, while others think they’re doing an abysmal job. I’d be curious to hear from you guys on this — does anyone think that Parker does an outstanding job as CEO of American Airlines?

American’s leadership is letting down employees, customers, and shareholders. I feel like all three of those points are pretty self explanatory, but:

• As far as employees go, American has failed to give employees a mission statement, as the company can’t seem to decide on an identity; a vast majority of employees don’t feel understood by management, and American is having major labor issues with their mechanics (and negotiations are about to start with pilots and flight attendants)
• As far as customers go, well, if you’ve flown the airline you probably know what I’m talking about
• As far as shareholders go, American stock is near a five year low, and the company has underperformed in just about every way compared to what Parker has promised

It’s not just that things aren’t good now, but management hasn’t done anything to indicate that things will change anytime soon.