American Airlines' SVP of Network Planning, Brian Znotins, has reportedly left. Here's why his exit could eventually shift American's focus from domestic flying toward long haul routes.
A picture of how leadership at AA views their customers— that guy and his wife physically pushed past me and other pax to rush a check in line. (Late opening line at an outstation.)
Yes, him. Spring 2025 and SYD – LAX was canceled. Rescheduled the next day as a rescue flight, leading to the unusual departure time and delayed check-in. Half the plane was milling around while they set up stanchions and when flagship first check-in opened, Znotins and his wife literally physically pushed past people to be first in line.
I took a deep breath to let it roll off my back, knowing I was going to be in an 8 person cabin with these self-important schmucks for 14+ hours. But when I realized he worked for the company, in any capacity, I was pissed. So started looking in to who he was.
To be fair, people are milling around.
So for someone who knows exactly what to do is to do it before the horde confusion kicks in and waste 60 mins.
People know what they’re doing at Flagship First check in. EP or above or paid for that TPAC ticket in F.
Znotins' network planning alienated me and was one of the key reasons I left AA. When you have to go from JFK to DFW to get to Frankfurt, or something similar, something is fundamentally wrong.
As a New Yorker I don't want to disagree, but is that actually true? Lots of people live closer to DFW.
Psh. What kind of New Yorker are you, s94ff? Upstate? C'mon. Former Key is right; no one in NYC is back-tracking to DFW to get to FRA. (PHL, ok, maybe, but even that is not ideal.)
AA will also route someone from SFO to DFW to Tokyo. What the absolute (heck)? Separately, certain routes would be on-again-off-again. A person couldn't count on a particular route (or booking) actually being there. I can't plan travel like that.
I wasn't saying to backtrack. I was saying perhaps AA has customers who live closer to DFW. Maybe the NYC to FRA market is saturated and they're happy getting people from DFW (and "nearby") to FRA.
Usually fly in the back but spot on about New York. I'd never consider backtracking unless it's a J (or above) award at the right price or travel dates. PHL's pretty much my limit.
Not sure how much International expansion AA can do in the next five years. They do not have the planes and have no immediate plans to beef up widebody stock. New orders would take five years to procure. Unless AA goes into the used market for planes.
Even if AA had the planes, it needs to choose international way-points. The network needs work. AA still has unused lots at JFK. They really need to rethink JFK. And, if AA wants to reenter the TPAC market, they really need to rethink LAX.
AA needs to add more premium seats on the 787-8's which mostly fly out of PHL, ORD, etc. They reduced the number of J seats to 20 - and when you fly out of PHL in the summer with lots of delays and misconnects - the flights are going to Europe sometimes with only 10 J passengers.
Pieper will ultimately be the next CEO. In order for American to achieve its lofty goals of closing the gap with its peers (10 years late), it needs to overhaul its c-suite. The "sunbelt" strategy was not the answer. The money is in big coastal and midwest cities, not in Charlotte, Chatanooga, or Greenberg Spartanburg. American is turning around, slowly but surely, but it is executing a lot of change amid high fuel prices, a looming US debt crisis, and a likely recession in 2027.
I worked at UA in Network as BZ just left and Patrick started. Funny take that BZ only focused on domestic, as the criticism at UA was that at the time he completely neglected domestic in favor of long haul. Never the less, he was just kind of conservative, not the guy to change the status quo at AA.
For what it’s worth, Patrick was chasing shiny objects in terms of international routes regardless of whether they made business sense. Many of the exciting sounding routes were unprofitable or barely profitable, though perhaps that’s changed with how loyalty has grown in importance… regardless all of that has worked better because UA improved domestic connectivity and capacity. Can’t fill a long haul flight without great connectivity!
Patrick followed Kirby.
BZ knows he's legacy and soon out of favor.
Kirby was after shiny objects and Doug Parker.
@AH, I was always amazed at how UA network didn't seem to realize the virtuous cycle of developing its hubs with more spokes/connectivity before Kirby and team arrived. In fact BCG alum, JH, was contemplating de-hubbing IAD, DEN and/or LAX. Was this cluelessness or just following the idiotic orders from above?
She was clueless, in over her head. Oscar was an amazing person to connect with the operation, but he knew he needed an airline mind. Initially he went with JH, but then quickly hired Kirby when he came available.
For what it’s worth, when the AA people first came in they tried to apply AA concepts at UA. They wanted to get rid of many business class seats, stop flying to Brussels, not prioritize Chicago and NYC. Eventually they understood the value of UA hubs, that they connect far more business traffic far and wide (even to African business markets via BRU) which is lucrative even if it’s more competitive.
Who at UA convinced the AA people otherwise? That's interesting
And how much can you pin on Znotis at UA when Compton was retiring and JH having what one month before transition with Kirby?
It is great that AA is finally realizing the error of its ways for more than a decade but they could not have chosen a more difficult environment to execute a turnaround.
Jet fuel prices are over $4.60/gallon in the US, WN is committed to becoming the fourth "legacy like" global carrier, and AA has the most total debt of any US airline with UA not far behind. Spending a bunch of money on fleet when AA is expected at best to break even this year and fuel prices aren't expected to come down in 2027 makes alot of AA's strategies perhaps too little too late.
AA had the highest domestic growth strategy coming into the 4th quarter and high fuel prices will undoubtedly force them to pull back alot of that capacity growth which will make them overstaffed. Part of cleaning out AA's C Suite right now could be a recognition that AA is getting dangerously close to losing investor confidence and they have to start making more dramatic moves to show a change in leadership. AA isn't alone - B6 and F9 are also very fragile financially; the latter two led the US airline industry's stock declines yesterday as analysts now believe that higher inflation including of energy will reduce the viability of some airlines.
Agreed. I think it is fair to say that Vasu Raja and Brian Znotins were at the root of AA's largest strategic missteps. Years ago, I read a comment from a reader who said he had worked directly for Raja. He said management saw Raja as a wunderkind. But, in the end, every strategic decision Raja made was wrong. It is all quite sad.
"His LinkedIn banner image is of an Airbus A319, American’s smallest mainline plane."
And, ironically(?), the reverse thrusters are deployed in that pic, so the tiny A319 is actually slowing down.
Is that irony, or poetic justice? 😉
Also, thrust reversers, there are no thrusters on AA’s A319s.
Thank you for not referring to JonNYC as an ‘aviation watchdog,’ as some bloggers do. He shares good intel and is seemingly well-connected with insiders who can’t keep their professional mouths shut, but watchdog he ain’t.
He's the airline unofficially leak go to guy.
They feed him these controlled "leaks".
The unofficial mouthpiece for airlines disguised as one of us.
Good riddance. Let's hope Nat changes Brian's mindset, asap.
It's OK Ben. This is America! You can say what's on your mind without fear of retribution. Oh, wait ...
Brian and Vasu are recently seen in El Paso trying go to anywhere in the world.
In my backseat driver opinion, I would like to see a restoration of the APAC network and restoring NYC network.
LAX to major destinations like NRT (for extra Tokyo capacity and JL connections), HKG (CX partnership), SIN (major business destination and premium yields), MEL (QF JV and much more market potential than BNE), MNL (PAL is joining OW), ICN (one of the least served destinations and can coordinate capacity w/ AS), and PVG (once China bilateral caps are lifted).
I would also like to see more year-round, full widebody service from JFK, and less from PHL. BA is abhorrent and I shan't be flying them.
I would also like to see any Africa destination in AA's network. Even CMN is fine for the Royal Air Maroc connections.
Honestly the best thing that could happen to AA's asia flying is alaska joining their JV. Just outsource all their flying to a hub that has good geography. It's what AA does with every other kind of long-haul flying anyways.
Every big obvious hole in AA's Asia route network is basically a competitive bloodbath for them if they fly from LAX. LAX-SIN is very unrealistic for AA. HKG and TPE are big holes in their network but again the competition is vicious. MNL is a good opportunity though I think that kind of VFR destination is better served by a connecting hub.
Ben- To clarify, Znotins isn't being replaced by someone under him - Andersen reported to Scott Chandler who is SVP of revenue. None of the MD's who reported to Znotins is being promoted. Technically Anderson is a VP and Znotins was an SVP but they were not in the same hierarchical ladder. The rest of your suspected analysis is correct.
With all of the talent at the Middle East carriers, I'm surprised that AA hasn't tried to recruit "back" some of that talent. I know a lot of US citizens at the ME3 who would probably move back with the right opportunity. Avoids the contentious H1B topic and they could even spin it in front of Trump by bringing talent back since they've been a lot more cozy with the current administration. What more could you ask for? Widebody, international expansion knowledge and domestic network knowledge!
You need to offer juicy steaks on the menu to get people to want to eat at the restaurant. Bread and butter is great (even if good restaurants these days charge you for that too...) but airlines that are built on loyalty programs and credit cards need aspirational goals, not just more JFK-LHR.
The XLR was supposed to open the map for AA, not just be a 321T replacement. I get that AA feels burned by having a 321 subfleet for transcon that it didn't monetize properly, but clearly the way UA is setting it up for the next decade with a 321 subfleet of coastliners is the way to go.
AA has limited planes for international. Even if they make a new widebody order they'll have limited planes. Pieper will be the next CEO and needs a new partner to help him think creatively about routes to launch from HNWI cities like LAX, NYC, ORD, etc. AA doesn't have to be UA/Quayle announcing flights to Nuuk, but they do need to fly to where premium folks want to go. That's more than EDI.
Agreed with everything you said. For AA, I just would have emphasized... "More MCE!" *wink*
They need to put at least 4 more rows of MCE on the XLRs. It's absurd that the only extra legroom seating on the AA XLRs is exit row. Literally just copy UA's XLR map and get down to 150 seats for FA reasons as well. This isn't rocket science!
As a dual French/US citizen, I selfishly would like to see a second daily JFK-CDG flight.
Good question, maybe competition could reduce prices, and they will fly AF anyway.
The America West DNA is embedded too deeply in AA for it to achieve a successful turnaround.
not gonna happen but if they ever create a MIA to HKG route i'll be such a loyal flyer for as long as I live in FL