American Airlines Pilots Say They Have Lost Confidence In Management And Demand ‘Decisive Action’

Pilots at beleaguered American Airlines have lost confidence in the Texas-based carrier’s management and say that ‘decisive action’ is now urgently required to get the airline’s ‘house in order’ after profits plummeted 87% in the last year, and the airline cancelled more than 9,000 flights during Winter Storm Fern.

The message was delivered to American’s board of directors in a new, strongly worded but coded letter from the Allied Pilots Association (APA), the official union of the airline’s more than 16,000-strong pilot workforce.

The coded letter sent to the American Airlines board

Despite the easily detected heat of the letter, which was sent on Friday following a regularly scheduled meeting of APA’s leadership team, the union stopped short of directly calling for the ouster of chief executive Robert Isom.

Between the lines, however, the message being sent by Capt. Nick Silva, the president of APA, wasn’t hard to decipher:

“Our members have been clear and consistent in their expectations regarding these issues and have lost confidence in management’s ability to correct course,” the letter slammed.

“We are not interested in symbolic gestures. We need decisive action. We require leaders who are willing, equipped, and empowered to get the house in order.”

The letter continued: “Leadership must change the culture of this airline, define American’s business identity, develop a strategy to not just improve but to outperform our competitors, and restore pride across the organization. Anything less will result in the continued deterioration of the American Airlines brand.”

Pilots’ union stops short of holding no confidence vote

The APA had been considering holding a vote of no confidence in Isom and the rest of American’s management team, although appear to have put that idea on hold, while it requests a direct face-to-face meeting with the airline’s board of directors.

Echoing similar concerns of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA), Capt. Silva wrote:

“Our airline is on an underperforming path and has failed to define an identity or a strategy to correct course. “This assessment is not the result of a single interaction with management, an isolated operational disruption, or an individual earnings report; it is the result of persistent patterns of operational, cultural, and strategic shortcomings.”

Silva says the union has given American’s management team “repeated opportunities to articulate a credible strategy and demonstrate measurable improvement.” Those opportunities have not, however, resulted in any meaningful change.

What has gone so wrong at American Airlines?

Unions at the airline have repeatedly stressed their concern about the business strategy pushed by Isom and his management team. While its two big rivals, Delta and United Airlines, leaned into capturing high-yield premium travelers, American opted for a cost-cutting approach that focused on the carrier’s domestic network.

Isom wanted to turn the airline’s network and schedule into its product, but this strategy is proving disastrous for its financial performance. While American’s profits plunge, the opposite is true for Delta and United.

“While our premium competitors’ market capitalization has soared, American’s has soured. As their free cash flow is sustained and growing, ours is inconsistent and stumbles,” Capt. Silva blasted.

“Management self-lauds their proclaimed industry-leading ‘efficiency,’ yet they fail to fully monetize the assets under their charge and leave us in a revenue trailing position compared to Delta and United,” the letter continued.

Pressure continues to mount on CEO Robert Isom

While it’s not up to unions to set the strategy of a company, it’s clear to see why they want to see a fundamental shift in the airline’s culture. As Capt. Silva notes: “Our careers are intrinsically tied to the fate and performance of this once-great airline.”

Earlier this week, the flight attendant union made an appeal to the carrier’s shareholders to take action, accusing the current management team in charge of the airline’s strategy of being “derelict in their duties to our shareholders.”

But while pressure continues to mount on Isom and his management team, for now at least, Isom and the American Airlines board remain silent on the growing calls for his ouster.