Originally Posted by
Carolinian
This interview is an example of why it is very disconcerting to have Dougie Parker behind the wheel of AA. I am concerned that he is going to drive it into the ditch.
I'll bite. What do you want?
And remember, AA has to refurbish their pretty dated 763/772 longhaul fleet over the next few years, and is only getting so many 77Ws at a time (plus US's 332s/333s, but those have to replace their 767s), so "please fly from every AA hub to every Asian, European, Indian, African and South American city with more than three million population nonstop tomorrow, and also please open hubs in PVG, KUL and HNL" is not a viable option. They're going to have a new fleet, and there will be options, but the best case scenario is what DL did; some key routes like what DL did on LAX-SYD, DTW-HKG, the new SEA focus city and so on... but there's no guarantee they'll work (DL has shut down some of their routes that didn't take).
I think I'd be pretty happy if they selectively added routes that AA was willing to make a go of the way DL has made a go of on LAX-SYD (they won't just shut it down). It would be nice if AA could make DEL work, too, once they get out of Chapter 11. DFW-HKG might not be so bad, either, to go with DFW-ICN. Add in one of JFK/LAX-PEK and AA isn't looking so bad any more.