+1 ^

To me, it looks like AA is making the same mistake again like Asia; while the rest are starting to invest in the future that the Middle East and some key nations in Africa will become the next India and China, AA is sitting back on the sidelines not doing anything except solely adding routes to South America. And just like Asia, it'll be too late for AA to join in later on.

Put one's shoes within Japan, Korea or China sixty years ago. Northwest and PanAm put down a bet that these nations would eventually become economic strongholds in the future. It may not be now, it may not be in a decade, but they continued to fly there, most likely at a loss. But did they pull out and give up immediately? No, they continued to fly there letting the brand name cultivate itself within those markets.

And in the meantime, as the Japanese, Koreans, and Chinese began to accumilate more wealth to travel abroad, they associated the United States with the iconic image of Northwest and PanAm. "I want to fly that plane, go to America, and strike big in the American Dream!" so to speak. The red tail to MSP and the PanAm globe logo became a brand name that the populace of these countries associated with flying to America. The young carriers looked up to NW and PanAm as an example of excellence and service; JAL pretty much began with the help of NW, while KE studied a lot from both JAL and DL to how to improve their image from being a third world airline into one of the best in class as it stands today.

And by that time, the presence of NW (and later merged with DL) and PanAm (later whose routes were bought by UA) had established a significant base of operations there, from localized marketing programs, a hub base at NRT and ICN, and the populace's trust in those brand names. Even their airline carriers which have now grown big enough to start flying long haul international destinations began to choose their alliance along the big players which has kept flying to said countries; CA, OZ and NH allied themselves to UA, while MU, CZ and KE joined the alliance that had NW in it (consequently now DL)

Then comes AA. Huh? Who's that? Never heard of them. Who do they think they are, coming in acting all tough and mighty? They never invested or put faith into us when we were struggling, why should we give them any preferential treatment to them over those that did, like DL and UA? That's where AA stands now in Asia. And that's what's going to happen to AA in other emerging markets they continue to overlook.