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American Airlines has announced that Robert Isom, the current President of American Airlines, will take over as CEO on March 31, 2022. Doug Parker, the current CEO, will remain on as Chairman of the Board, supporting Isom as he takes on his new leadership role.
This succession has been in the works for some time, according to the airline, and the pandemic actually delayed things further than was originally planned.
Isom has actually been around the airline industry, specifically American and its former subsidiaries, for quite a while. He began his career at America West, working alongside Doug Parker, taking on positions at Northwest Airlines and then later US Airways. He was one of the top executives in charge of the merger of then-US Airways with the new American Airlines, and he’s received a lot of credit for the work he’s done there.
Recent accomplishments and credits include working with Alaska Airlines on its transition towards joining the Oneworld alliance, bringing on JetBlue as a partner in the Northeast, and tapping Hyatt to be the official hotel partner of the airline, allowing customers to earn Hyatt points anytime they fly American.
Unlike a lot of executive transitions, where a leader is brought in to change direction or focus, Isom and Parker have worked alongside each other for many years. Their philosophy on leading American has been more or less the same — bringing American to profitability and creating a world-class airline. This said, both Isom and Parker have been known to make changes that aren’t exactly in the customer’s favor — previously declining to put power ports on planes, charging for beverages, and, most recently, densifying aircraft.
We’ll likely see not too much of a change in leadership style from Parker to Isom — and, in many respects, a status quo is better than a hard U-turn.
American will be transitioning CEOs come March 2022, but little will change in the direction of the airline. One thing that will help define Isom’s legacy in the future is how he defines American — and whether he chooses to label the airline as more of a low-cost carrier or full-service, premium airline. To date, the airline has tried to be all things to all people and struggled to define themselves in an otherwise crowded market, so it will be interesting to see how Isom takes hold of this challenge and where American is seen several years down the road.
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