It's pretty obvious what Scott Kirby is doing. He's petty and revengeful, and he's practicing "if you repeat the lie enough times people will start to believe in it". AA has made many terrible mistakes in the past decade, and the management is for sure at fault. However, I don't think AA is in a irreversible course of doom. United may be riding on a high last year, but they've already started cutting unprofitable European routes. On top of that, United still has that pending big labor contract negotiation which is bound to drive up its cost and United's PRASM will go down in the coming years. Of course these are not things Scott Kirby is talking about.