American Airlines is one of the world’s largest and best-known carriers. Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, just a few miles from its hub at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, American serves hundreds of locations with thousands of flights taking passengers to places in the United States, Mexico, Canada, Latin American, China, India, Japan, and the Caribbean.
American Airlines was founded in’30 and is the first airline to offer electronic ticketing. American Airlines is also the first airline to offer a frequent flyer program. Its AAdvantage rewards program remains the largest frequent flyer program with more than 50 million members.
American Airlines currently offers service to over 260 cities with almost 700 aircraft. American is very popular on routes between the United States and Latin American, carrying over a million passengers between the two markets each year. In fact, American Airlines carries more passengers between the United States and Latin America than any other airline. In addition, American Airlines has a strong international market.
There are four American hubs throughout the world: Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), Chicago, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Miami. The airline also has a strong presence in all the New York airports, in Los Angeles, and Boston. The company’s maintenance facilities, employing thousands of workers are located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Kansas City, and Fort Worth.
American Airlines’ regional carrier is American Eagle. This subsidiary offers regional service to smaller airports in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. American Eagle’s headquarters are also located in Fort Worth, Texas.
American was a founding member of the airline alliance Oneworld. Airline alliances allow carriers to share flight codes and luggage transfer facilities with numerous other carriers to give fliers more choices. Oneworld airlines also share their frequent flier programs. The Oneworld Alliance celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2009.
One of the reasons American serves so many destinations is its acquisition of Trans World Airlines (TWA) in 2001, unfortunately, only a short time before the devastation of September 11. The acquisition was already causing American to hemorrhage cash when two of its jets were hijacked and crashed on 9/11. The September attacks forces American to relinquish its St. Louis hub, and to let a few former TWA employees go. American continues to struggle financially, and when high fuel prices hit in 2008, it became the first airline to impose a fee for checked baggage, an innovation, like all its others, that competing airlines quickly mimicked.
Most of American’s jets are McDonnell Douglas MD-82 or MD-88 series twinjets. The carrier announced recently that it will order the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner to its fleet.
American Airlines is also a leader in offering in-flight technology. In 2008, American became the first airline to offer full in-flight internet service. This came only a year after American began offering free Wi-fi service to passengers on its flights in the United States.
Tom Martens is the content syndication coordinator for South Arica?s leading Flight comparison & Booking portal, which includes American Airlines amongst others.
