American’s Parker to Retire in March 2022, Handing Over Leadership to Isom

American Airlines announced longtime CEO Doug Parker will officially retire from the company on March 31, leaving six-year president Robert Isom in charge of the Fort Worth-based carrier.

Isom To Take Over as CEO, Parker Remains as Board Chairman

Well before leading several mergers to take the chief executive role at American, Parker started his career with the legacy carrier in 1986, after earning an MBA from Vanderbilt University. He worked for the airline as a financial analyst, alongside the future CEOs of Spirit Airlines and the former Virgin America, Ben Baldanza and C. David Kush.

After a four-year stint at Northwest Airlines, Parker was named chief financial officer of America West Airlines in 1995. With the goal of elevating him to the CEO role, Parker spent time working across functional teams before being named to the seat in September 2001. After the September 11 attacks, Parker was credited with helping America West become the first carrier to get a federal loan guarantee, saving them from certain bankruptcy.

By 2005, Parker successfully negotiated a reverse-merger with then-Star Alliance member US Airways, which would turn the regional airline into a national carrier. Taking the northeast airline’s name, the company expanded their footprint to include the Northeastern U.S., the Caribbean and Europe. However, the CEO ultimately envisioned his airline as part of one of the “legacy three,” approaching both Delta Air Lines and United Airlines with merger proposals between 2005 and 2010.

His carrier would ultimately find a home with American Airlines. At the end of 2013, Parker successfully negotiated the merger of US Airways with AMR Corporation to form American Airlines Group. At the time of the merger, American was the largest carrier in the world.

Replacing Parker in the chief executive role is president Robert Isom, who has held several positions at both America West and US Airways prior to being named company president in 2016. When he starts the job on April 1, 2022, he will be in charge of leading over 130,000 employees operating an average of 6,500 daily flights and carrying over 200 million passengers every year prior to the pandemic.

Parker will remain with the company as chairman of the airline’s board.

Parker Becomes Third Executive to Retire in 15 Months

With his announcement, Parker is the second chief executive to announce his retirement in 2021 alone, and the third to leave their company since September 2020. In June 2021, Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly announced his plans to retire on February 1, 2022, while International Airlines Group chief executive Willie Walsh retired from the airline operator in September 2020.

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Feature image courtesy: American Airlines