American_Airlines_Research

History of an American Company Over five thousand feet above the ground and not falling! The pilot's voice comes though the speakers "look out the window and see a bird's eye view of The Grand Canyon." An airplane is flying, and odds are it may be American Airlines, as it was the largest airline in the world, until recent economic hardships (Fleming, Arlene). American Airlines just like any other company started out small and grew. In order to become a large provider to the whole world they began buying other smaller airline companies and using their facilities and planes. But it wasn’t easy, working their way up to the top, and as they found out, it's not easy staying at the top, that’s where it gets interesting. Charles A. Lindbergh, at the time chief pilot of Robertson Aircraft Corporation of Missouri, was the second of many aviation companies to hold a U.S. airmail contract. It was one of the first set of companies that would eventually be bought out to form today's American Airlines. The dealings began in 1929, when American Airlines began to acquire young aviation companies, including Robertson. In 1930, The Aviation Corporation's airline union was renamed American Airways, Inc. and changed again in 1934, when American Airways became American Airlines, Inc. "Airline Tickets and Airline Reservations from American Airlines". On May 13, 1934, Cyrus Rowlett Smith became president of American, except for a period during World War II. By the end of the 1930s, American was at the top of the nation's domestic air carrier. On Feb. 16, 1937, American carried its one-millionth passenger. American Airlines, Inc. did not face notable hardships until World War 2, when the U.S. government forced them to hand over half of their fleet and crew to carry military men and supplies overseas. The remainder of the crew, surprisingly, flew the increased demand for flights within the U.S. "Airline Tickets and Airline Reservations from American Airlines". American Airlines began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on June 10, 1939. In 1942, they signed a contract with the airline catering business called Sky Chefs. This new merger led to a large jump in their stock price which allowed them to introduce the first domestic scheduled U.S. freight service in 1944. This allowed for much growth over the next couple of decades. From 1945 to 1950, American operated American Overseas Airlines, which served a number of European countries. This was the first time American would serve a European country. AOA was formed as a result of a merger between the international division of American and a company called American Export Airlines "History of AMR Corporation and American Airlines". Because of the recent misfortune of American Airlines, Ma Bell Horton became chief executive officer at AA on Nov. 29 with the retirement of Gerard Arpey, who led the company for eight-years, fighting against a bankruptcy. Horton now must work out new labor talks and fix a $29.6 billion dollar debt while keeping the third-largest U.S. airline flying (Green). This newfound trust in the organization’s leaders has lead to a rise in the corporation's stock price, after losing in the previous couple of days about thirty billion dollars. Since 2001, they have fought filing for bankruptcy after every other major airline business did file for it. Their filing allowed them to re-sign every employee saving them about 600 million a year, a good sized amount of money "AMR Insider Horton Brings AT&T Deal-Making History to CEO Role". American Airlines was forced to retire all of its larger freighters by 1980, due to the rise in gas prices. In 1979 Texas International Airlines introduced the first modern frequent flyer program, but because of the larger companies, who have more resources, they were bought by American in 1981. In an attempt to increase the amount of commercial tickets being sold, American introduced the AAdvantage travel rewards program (a similar program to that of Texas Airlines) rewarding frequent fliers with points that could be redeemed in free flights, hotel stays or car rentals. Shortly after introducing their AAdvantage program, American flew their five hundred millionth passenger, and purchased their Chicago Hub Headquarters in 1982. Only nine years later in 1991, they flew their one billionth customer, and expanded its flying all the way to Europe. In 1993, American opened the American Airlines C.R. Smith Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, American's Headquarters. Following their alliance with Alaskan Airlines in 1994, American formed Oneworld Alliance with several world airlines in 1998, opening up many new areas of which to attract customers. In October 2001, American announced that it will accelerate construction of its new $1.3 billion terminal at New York's JFK Airport, advancing the completion date nine months to September 2006 "History of AMR Corporation and American Airlines". American has had a few terrorists attacks, one that all will know. On September 11, 2001 two American Airlines airplanes hit the Twin Towers in New York City. Because of what happened, every airline's pilots and stewards were retrained, to be more aware of every passenger, and any possible threat. Also every airport was restocked with new security systems, as they were trying to reassure that flying in an airplane can be safe still. And on a lighter note in 2006 an American Airlines flight made an emergency landing in Nashville after a passenger lit a match to try and hide flatulence-related odors (Fleming). 2001 was a bad year for Airlines. Over 4 of the top 6 airlines in the market today filed for bankruptcy, except American Airlines. Because those other companies were able to file for bankruptcy, they renegotiated their work contracts, keeping their labor costs over eight hundred million dollars less than American. During the last two years American was losing money while the rest of the industry was profitable. Shoring fuel prices have also given the company even a harder time, because American has older less fuel efficient airplanes. In July 2011 American ordered four hundred sixty new planes, in hopes to allow them to compete with some of the newer more efficient companies. By filing for bankruptcy their debt will be lowered, their labor contracts will be lowered, so in a short while they will have new means of making money (American Airlines Bankruptcy Fallout). American Airlines, after they filed for Chapter 11, bankruptcy, were selling stock on Wall Street at twenty six cents a share. Their entire company was only worth about eighty million (cheep for a company of its size). In order for the company to receive the bail out money from the bank a few things needed to happen before they would just had over billions of dollars. First the head of the company, typically the CEO, must step down from his role as chief financial advisor. Next all financial process must be approved by a bankruptcy court for a limited amount of time. This Chapter 11 bankruptcy is preferred over Chapter 7 because in Chapter 11 the company still has some choice in its financial processes. In Chapter 7, the company stops production of whatever service and a financial advisor is appointed to sell all assets, or until they can pay off their debt, then production begins again "American Airlines Bankruptcy Fallout". On a lighter note, some interesting useless facts about American Airlines: American Airlines website receives approximately 700,000 visits on average days and more than 17.5 million site visits each month"American Airlines Fun Facts". In 1987, American Airlines decided to omit one olive from each salad course in the first class. As a result, they made a savings of $40,000 "Interesting Business Facts". American Airlines hopes during the next few years that it can get its act together. After they receive the bailout from the bank and have a new CEO they will be able to compete with some of the largest airlines. When they were selling at only twenty-six cents a share the smart investors would have bought as many stocks as they could, as they will make a rise again. When the holidays come around and their ticket sales go through the roof, and more people are assured that there can be some stability in the company. Works Cited (Fleming, Arlene. "American Airlines Info." Air Travel – Info on Cheap Airfare, Airline Tickets, and Air Travel Specials. About.com, 16 Nov. 2011. Web. 10 Dec. 2011). ("Airline Tickets and Airline Reservations from American Airlines | AA.com. American Airlines, 20 Nov. 2011. Web. 09 Dec. 2011.) ("History of AMR Corporation and American Airlines. ("Airline Tickets and Airline Reservations from American Airlines | AA.com. American Airlines, 20 Nov. 2011. Web. 09 Dec. 2011.) Green, Jeff, and Mary Schlangenstein. "AMR Insider Horton Brings AT&T Deal-Making History to CEO Role." Business Week. Bloomberg, 06 Dec. 2011. Web. 12 Dec. 2011.) American Airlines Bankruptcy Fallout. Perf. Mark Strasa. CBS News, 2011. News. "American Airlines Fun Facts." Travel Flea Market. Travel Flea Market, 1 Jan. 2003. Web. 27 Dec. 2011... "Interesting Business Facts." Facebook. Facebook, 17 Mar. 2011. Web. 27 Dec. 2011. .