I’m guessing this is more information than American Airlines probably wanted to be made public…
Continue reading: Leaked: American Airlines Planning For New CEO
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Donald Trump is available as of this Wednesday he has run an airline before 😉 🙂
I don't suspect it would be Robert Isom. He is of the same generation as Parker. They should be grooming 3-4 people in their mid 40's to take the helm so they have options. At 56 I just don't see it.
I hear Trump is looking for work. "Make American Great Again" will adapt well as empty promises and creating divineness within employee ranks. He will fit right in.
Having a succession plan for internal candidates is common. Doesn't mean that when it's time, they will go internal.
@Joe Bloggs - I think Vasu is a longer term candidate.
The way I'm reading this, I'd think that Robert Isom takes over next year at some point (Doug turns 60 next year). He'd likely be more or less a transition CEO (he's currently 56) - transition as in 5-7 years. I'd tend to think they'd use that period to get Vasu up to speed on some of the non-commercial parts of the airline (his background is revenue management, network planning and commercial strategy) - Robert had a lot of experience coming from both the finance and the operations side coming into his current role as President; I think that transition period will allow Vasu to build up his experience on the operational side of the airline.
Didn't AA surprisingly lose its partnership with LATAM to Delta while Vasu Raja was head of network strategy?
You are reading way too much on this. There is nothing confidential or shocking about a company saying it is "in the midst of a multi-year strategic succession planning process that is designed to prepare an internal executive for the chief executive officer role. “ The easy way to read that is to see how old the current CEO is and when he would usually retire. Now, all companies the size of AA should have a contingency plan in case the current CEO needs to be immediately replaced (death, illness, very bad decisions, etc...) In sum, I would be surprised if AA did not say what they said. BTW, if a company does not have a replacement for CEO internally it means they did a very poo job in recruiting and grooming talent that makes them go outside to hire one.
Who’s your media source ? Hunslon ? Never hear of them. Is this official that Doug Parker is out ?
I think Vasu would be better than Isom.Like you said,thinks outside the box sometimes. If we go from outside AA, why not try Marc Lore? He is about to leave walmart. Could bring new ideas to an airline from the outside.
Elise Eberwein (head of HR for AA) tweeted some context when Cranky tweeted about this:
Scroll down for her comments (Marty St. George also makes an appearance tweeting here): https://twitter.com/crankyflier/status/1351299629518786562
They need to scrub the whole leadership team and start fresh! Doug and Robert are cut from the same cloth and I wouldn’t look for any significant improvement moving to him. He’s even more old school than Doug. They especially need to get rid of the EVP of HR the CHRO will never be successful or thrive as long as she is there. Doesn’t anyone wonder why they can’t keep HR leaders!?? It starts at the top! I’m just sayin...
Either Bob Crandall or Donald Trump. Need hard nosed business people to get the Airline moving in the right direction. Right now too much fat no responsibility and no direction. I don’t want to see another bankruptcy esp with this new gutless administration we just installed.
Concerned Retiree
Personally, I think this is much ado about nothing. But as an AA frequent flyer, I would love for Vasu to take over eventually. He's the only one in there that occasionally surprises me/us with his ideas.
Concur with @santastaco and @luke. This is simply a commonly held exercise annually in corporate America. Also I would not count Vasu out. Finance types often are favored to make the leap to the top chair.
@Joey: Not sure what Vasu Raja had anything to do with LATAM leaving. They left solely due to two reasons:
(a) Chile rejected the AA/LA JV
(b) LATAM was broke
And with what happened afterwards and Latam ending bankrupt, it was a blessing in disguise! Imagine if AA had invested in LA.
I had a chuckle about the comment proposing Marc Lore of Walmart. I can hear the jokes now. American's service is already at Walmart level. German friends just flew LH from FRA to CUN. Then CUN-DFW-KOA. First class, full fare. They were not impressed by AA service.
Robert Isom = Doug Parker 2.0, given Isom came from US Airways and spent many years in Parker's team.
I'd rather AA go after Richard Anderson. Or someone from Southwest, Delta, or JetBlue who is interested in moving up the management chain.
I would be happy with anybody who will take us away from the business model that Parker and Isom so assiduously foisted on AA, that of “The World’s Largest [Low Cost] Airline.”
Several years into the New American and under the stewardship of Parker and Isom, American Airlines is a full-service, premium carrier IN NAME ONLY.
I would love for them to go after Richard Anderson to restore American Airlines back to being a legacy professional and great airline again not LIKE SPIRIT AIRLINES OR FRONTIER AIRLINES...
I think that Isom is a good, smart guy but I agree perhaps more transitional due to his age. Vasu is very personable, young, so intelligent, and great at thinking "outside the box." The comment above about losing LATAM under Vasu: I agree with other posters that was not his fault. Chilean Sup. Court rejected the alliance, and then Delta sunk a bunch of money to get a foothold in the region via LATAM ownership stake, but it looks like it was a really bad move for Delta. Also freed up AA to partner with GOL, and AA is re-focusing on MIA and all of South America, too. Under Vasu, AA now has a great feed for more Asian long hauls out of SEA via partnership with AS, and out east with the JetBlue (B6) partnership, AA overnight became the major player out of BOS and NYC, while B6 now has longhauls they could never do with the fleet they have.
Thank god!! Bring back AA screw this usair crap!!! Airline has sucked so much wish they could break the merger up and just have AA BACK FIRE ALL the executives that came from that terrible carrier and are now taking AA down with them!! Yuk!! I agree with above person bring Crandall back!!
These kinds of planning processes aren't earth shattering.
That said, one look at Vasu's track record and it seems clear that the best thing AA could do is get rid of him.... so much international added and cancelled under Vasu that it makes Pan Am look like a well-run company.
Mountains out of molehills, this report.
What....is their current CEO not doing enough favors in DC to get more and more of our sweet sweet tax money? They trying to find someone with a softer mouth?
It's past time for Parker yo leave. Why hire Isom? He's parker 2.0
How about someone who believes in great customer service and really cares for employees?
It would be nice to see American return to their old ways of customer comes first. Could that happen by promoting from within? Doubtful.
I will love AA have an CEO take care first at his employees, and them automatically the Company will run to go up to the top of the list, AUTOMATICALLY, DONT FORGET .
Both isom and Parker are detrimental for the airline. Since the merger AA has downgraded to a poor service as usairways used to be.
As an AA employee and former US employee, please bring in fresh blood with a global perspective, The moment DP took charge, I knew we would be America West on steroids. I like Doug and feel a certain gratitude towards him, but I want to see AA be the best and I only see us a bottom feeder in it's present form.
Most companies, even one with a handful of employees, do succession planning. It’s both a way to find potential people for promotion and grooming them for bigger things as well as preparing for the future. This goes from the very top to the very bottom. People retire, are recruited by other companies, get sick, die or “fail” the grooming process. Any professional of a certain calibre can tell stories of being contacted by recruiters acting for an unnamed principal. Both recruiters and companies like having a “bank” of potential professionals in case of need, and they weigh internal vs external candidates. There are times when you want someone internal, and others when an external is preferred.
I would imagine the toll this past year has taken on Parker and every other airline CEO. The future looks even more problematic, particularly if the bailouts cease. The legacies may need to totally restructure their operations towards more price oriented leisure flyers and less premium long haul flyers.
No surprise that Parker might be signaling to the BOD he's thinking of taking an out down the road. He's built the world's largest airline. There isn't much left for him to do. Why would he want to preside over another Chapter 11 restructuring?
Isom and Parker, execs from the airline that charged for water. Get new blood, not the USairways mindset.
funny how US+AA supposedly have groomed Parker's successor for over a decade.... only to have the fruits of their labor enjoyed elsewhere,
.....all while the board is so uncertain about any of the ones in the C-Suites (or within 1-level reporting of them) that they have to pay the king's ransom that is executive search firms
how is Vasu any different from someone like Isom ?
Anyone who could do Oasis could be replaced by my Chihuahua with no loss of brain power.
Seems like Hunter would be a good fit for the CEO role. Maybe the "big guy" can make that happen for him?
American will have big shoes to fill. Lord Dougie went to the WH and sat next to Trump with his hand out during a round table discussion with the airline ceos at the beginning of the pandemic. He saved people’s jobs.
No, our tax dollars saved people's jobs....all he did was nearly run the airline into the ground.
The only way forward for AA is to ditch the entire executive suite including Parker, Isom, Raja, and Eberwein (plus their water-carriers.) There is no question that the airline that used to carry the "AA" brand has been so severely diminished by these clowns that it will be a tough sell to acquire a team that can actually restore the "shine" to American Airlines.
I would love to see AA move forward and bring it back to what it used to be. My choice for CEOs would be.
Robert Crandall (Crandall Forever)
Richard Anderson
Gordon Bethune
Better yet new fresh blood
Okay as a recently separated employee of American Airlines due to the pandemic. The language used by the Communications officer to “respond” was condescending, elitist and rude. Her verbiage and word choice is very indicative of the culture of the company.
As an American Airlines retiree from 2020, and of 14 years with US Airways/American Airlines I wish Doug Parker All the Best! He is an Amazing leader, a genuinely sincere and friendly person to every employee. He treats everyone like family and the Airline is his home!
Robert Isome is a very nice person, and i have confidence that he will be an excellent CEO to fill Doug's position.
Wishing AA All the Best!
Why not a female or person of color? American is leading the charge for diversity.