I wonder about the culture of the airline. It seems to be heavily influenced by the military. Airlines run that way tend to give unquestioned authority to the captain and many first officers are afraid to challenge the captain. If the CVR
transcript is made available to the public it will be interesting to read what the first officer said and what, if any, actions he took.
I think the over 100,000 employees care about AA’s survival and keeping their jobs. American has made some good moves lately. They are the only US airline to offer their senior pilots a buy out. They were the first US airline to permanently ground a fleet type, the 757/767, and then added the A330 and the E190s. With the previous retirement of their S80s they now have just four fleet types. This gives them one of the youngest fleets in the industry and should greatly improve their reliability and lower costs. I believe they were also the first US airline to operate cargo only flights to Europe and Asia. Ironically this pandemic has forced them to make changes that will ultimately make them a better, more reliable airline. I wouldn’t give up on them.
Did the Wisconsin Supreme Court order people to start flying? Load factors are picking up but it will be a long time before airlines get back to normal.
Actually on a per seat basis a B737-800 is cheaper to operate. American has also pledged to keep 50% of their middle seats empty, it’s going to be hard to do that on a E-175.
