American Airlines

Open full sized image

© MKPhoto/stock.adobe.com

American Airlines is a major U.S. airline based in Fort Worth, Texas. It is the principal airline of American Airlines Group Inc. (AAL), a publicly traded holding company formed in 2013 through the merger of AMR Corp. and US Airways. Including flights operated by regional carriers under the American Eagle name, American flies to more than 350 destinations in over 60 countries.

American is one of the three largest U.S. network carriers, alongside Delta Air Lines (DAL) and United Airlines (UAL). As a founding member of the Oneworld alliance, it links its network to those of partner airlines worldwide, making it one of the world’s largest carriers by passenger traffic, fleet size, and revenue. American Airlines was a pioneer in airline marketing and loyalty programs, helping to shape practices that became standard throughout the industry.

American Airlines developed over the years out of the consolidation of about 85 small air transport companies. Two of its key early components were Robertson Aircraft Corporation and Colonial Air Transport.

Robertson, first organized in 1921 in Missouri as a general flying service and aircraft manufacturer, began flying mail on April 15, 1926, between Chicago and St. Louis; the pilot on its first flight was Charles Lindbergh. Colonial Air, which grew out of a charter service called the Bee Line (formed in 1923), began flying mail between New York City and Boston on June 18, 1926.

In 1929, these and other small carriers were combined under the holding company Aviation Corporation, which was reorganized as an operating company and renamed American Airways in 1930. By that year, through the amalgamation of several airlines, its routes stretched from Boston and New York City to San Diego and Los Angeles by way of Cleveland and Kansas City, Missouri.

After new congressional guidelines in 1934 forced most U.S. airlines to reorganize following the loss of mail contracts, the company thoroughly reworked its network into an integrated system and was reincorporated as American Airlines. That same year, Cyrus Rowlett Smith became president; he guided the company as president or chair until 1968, when he became U.S. secretary of commerce in the Johnson administration. Smith returned briefly as chief executive officer (CEO) in 1973 before retiring in 1974.

Under Smith’s leadership, American introduced the Air Travel Card in 1934, the industry’s first airline-specific charge card, marking an early milestone in airline loyalty and payment systems.

The airline expanded greatly from the 1970s to the ’90s, developing from a domestic airline into an international carrier reaching the Caribbean, South America, Europe, and the Pacific, largely by buying routes of other airlines.

Robert Crandall, widely known as Bob Crandall, led American Airlines as CEO, president, and chair from 1980 to 1998. Under his leadership, American became the world’s largest airline by the early 1990s. Crandall oversaw major strategic initiatives that reshaped both the company and the airline industry, including the launch of the AAdvantage frequent flyer program in 1981, the commercialization of the SABRE computer reservation system, rapid route expansion after U.S. airline deregulation, and industry-defining labor negotiations. Also during his tenure, American Airlines and Citicorp—later Citigroup (C)—launched the Citi / AAdvantage Mastercard, the first co-branded airline mileage credit card in the nation.

Crandall’s direct public presence, frequent media appearances, and distinctive management style made him a nationally recognized figure. He is widely cited in business reporting and airline histories as one of the most influential executives in U.S. airline history, and many of his operational and marketing innovations remain standard industry practices today.

After Crandall’s retirement in 1998, American continued to pursue growth through acquisitions. In 2001, it acquired most of the assets of bankrupt Trans World Airlines, Inc, a transaction the U.S. Department of Justice didn’t challenge. The acquisition added thousands of employees and numerous routes, giving American a major presence at St. Louis Lambert International Airport.

Rising fuel costs, labor expenses, and declining demand following the September 11 attacks led AMR Corp. (then American’s parent company) to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2011. AMR exited bankruptcy through a merger with US Airways, which was completed on December 9, 2013. It created American Airlines Group, with American as its primary operating airline. The US Airways name was retired in 2015.

American operates a hub-and-spoke network, a system in which flights are routed through central hubs. Its main hubs are:

From these hubs, American links cities throughout the Americas and long-haul markets in Europe and the Pacific.

As of 2025, American operates the world’s largest airline fleet, with about 950 aircraft, and spent the preceding decade simplifying aircraft types and adding more fuel-efficient models. It retired its McDonnell Douglas MD-80 narrow-body jets in 2019 and the next year removed its Embraer E190, Airbus A330-300, and Boeing (BA) 757 and 767 fleets.

In March 2024, the airline placed an order for 260 aircraft (85 Airbus A321neo, 85 Boeing 737-10, and 90 Embraer E175) with additional purchase rights. The retired MD-80, 757, and 767 aircraft were less fuel efficient than the newer Boeing 737 MAX and Airbus A321neo planes. The E175 is a smaller regional jet flown by carriers operating as American Eagle on short routes.

American was also an early U.S. adopter of inflight Wi-Fi, introducing paid broadband on select Boeing 767-200 routes in 2008.

American’s pilots, represented by the Allied Pilots Association, ratified a four-year contract in August 2023 valued at $9 billion to $9.6 billion. The Association of Professional Flight Attendants, which represents flight attendants, ratified a new five-year agreement on September 12, 2024. After the pandemic years of heavy borrowing, the company emphasized reducing its debt, a process known as deleveraging. It reported progress in 2025 and set a goal of lowering total debt to less than $35 billion by the end of 2027.

American’s short-lived Northeast Alliance with JetBlue Airways (JBLU), an attempt to coordinate service in New York City and Boston, was blocked by a federal District Court in May 2023. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit upheld the ruling on November 8, 2024, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case in June 2025, leaving the court order barring the alliance in place.