Business
Pressure mounts on American Airlines CEO as carrier lags rivals
A snow removal machine is seen working while a Boeing 737 American Airlines passenger aircraft is parked at gate on the tarmac of LaGuardia airport in New York on January 25, 2026.
Charly Triballeau | Afp | Getty Images
American Airlines‘ promised turnaround is off to a rocky start this year.
Pilot and flight attendant unions have called CEO Robert Isom’s leadership into question as the airline’s performance has trailed its rivals by a wide margin, a trend that has translated to lower profit-sharing for American’s more than 130,000 employees. Adding to employee frustration, the airline struggled to recover from major winter storms in recent weeks and crews were left stranded — some without a place to sleep beside the airport.
Late Friday, the pilots’ union wrote to the airline’s board, seeking a meeting to discuss the carrier’s financial and operational challenges.
“Our airline is on an underperforming path and has failed to define an identity or a strategy to correct course,” the board of directors of the Allied Pilots Association wrote. The union called for “leaders who are willing, equipped, and empowered to get the house in order.”
American made $111 million last year, an amount eclipsed by profits from Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, which brought in $5 billion and more than $3.3 billion, respectively, even though American flew similar capacity in 2025.
“I know that it is a meager profit-sharing, a very small profit-sharing pool this year. Again, when you break even, that’s the kind of profit-sharing you have,” Isom told employees after releasing earnings results on Jan. 27, according to a recording of the event that was reviewed by CNBC. “I’m disappointed in that.”
‘2026 can’t just feel different’
American is trying to catch up to rivals with premium products that bring in higher fares, a bright spot in the industry as coach cabin revenue growth has been elusive. It has also worked to reverse the damage from a failed direct-to-traveler business-travel strategy, whose architect American ousted in May 2024.
2026 is crucial for the carrier.
The Fort Worth, Texas-based airline issued an upbeat outlook for the year on Jan. 27, and Isom told crews that he was optimistic about improvement this year. He also noted that many staff, like flight attendants, make more than their counterparts at United, where cabin crews and other employees are in contract negotiations.
Isom is leading what he has pitched as a major transformation of American. The strategy includes improving customer service, the network and revenue management.
This week, he took his message to about 6,000 leaders at a conference the airline held at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
“We’ve had conversations as a senior leadership team about how we can’t pass up any opportunity … how we need to hold ourselves accountable,” Isom said at the event, according to a transcript which was seen by CNBC. “It starts with us at the top, but it’s all of us here today and how you lead your teams. 2026 can’t just feel different. It has to be different.”
American issued its 2026 outlook as it was juggling the aftermath of a late January winter storm that walloped much of the U.S. with snow, ice and sleet and preparing for another storm that ended up hitting its major hub of Charlotte, North Carolina, while competitors dug out faster.
The financial results, coupled with the slow storm recovery, drew anger from both pilot and flight attendant union leaders, which together represent about 40,000 crew members.
This week, two American Airlines flight operations leaders met with the union and discussed recent problems, with the union telling members that “our pilots will not accept platitudes, empty words, and the absence of decisive action any longer.”
Association of Professional Flight Attendants President Julie Hedrick said on Jan. 27 that Isom, who became CEO in 2022, “is missing the human factor” and that “many of us have been here for a very long time, and we don’t see an ending that puts us in a better place.”
Isom acknowledged the trouble American’s crew members faced during the late January storm that paralyzed a large swath of the United States and called the weather “probably the most impactful” during his decades-long tenure at the airline.
Robert Isom, chief executive officer of American Airlines Group Inc., speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview in New York, US, on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025.
Christian Monterrosa | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Tale of two Texas airlines
American had an especially difficult 2025, which started with the collision of an Army Black Hawk helicopter into one of the carrier’s regional jets that was arriving at Washington, D.C.’s Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, killing all 67 people on both flights. The airline, and its rivals, were also hit by the U.S. government shutdown late last year.
“We’re off to a fast start based on the booking trends we’ve observed in January, all-time records for the first three weeks of the year,” Isom told analysts on the Jan. 27 earnings call.
But investors also want to the airline to prove its progress.
American’s stock is roughly flat this year. Its competitor 20 miles away in Dallas, Southwest Airlines, is also trying to remake itself, and its stock is up more than 30% in 2026. Shares of United and Delta are up more than 3% and more than 8%, respectively, for the year.
Southwest’s forecast that it could quadruple earnings this year has had investors in a bullish frenzy. That carrier recently sealed its biggest transformation in its nearly 55 years of flying (to some travelers’ chagrin): assigning seats last month for the first time, adding its first-ever bag fees, and rolling out basic economy tickets and other changes. Investors’ confidence boosted Southwest’s stock to a nearly four-year high last month after it reported results.
All U.S. carriers are investing heavily in higher-end travel over standard coach, and even Southwest is considering opening its first airport lounge, its CEO told CNBC last year.
American likewise is revamping its wide-body planes with larger, single business-class cabins, putting in a three-class cabin on new Airbus narrow-bodies and expanding its airport lounges. The airline has also refreshed its food and beverage options, including offering Lavazza coffee and Champagne Bollinger. For its 100th anniversary this spring, it’s also adding caviar and beef Wellington for long-haul premium cabins.
Isom has said he expects half of American’s revenue to come from “premium offerings” toward the end of the decade.
Fight over Chicago
Several planes wait in line to taxi down a runway after a winter snow storm affected the area at O’Hare International airport on Nov. 30, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois.
Jim Vondruska | Getty Images
One major battle for American is at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, where United CEO Scott Kirby, whom American fired in 2016, has vowed to keep his old employer at bay.
Both carriers are ramping up their schedules there next summer. Deutsche Bank estimated in a note Monday that United generates about $10 billion in revenue at O’Hare and that American generates more than $5 billion.
Around the time American reported earnings, United posted a digital billboard in Chicago that read “More on time, less canceled flights. Aadvantage, United,” using the same spelling as American’s AAdvantage loyalty program. Bankrupt Spirit Airlines is also seeking to transfer two gates at Chicago O’Hare to United for $30 million, which would give United more ground at the airport.
But from Chicago to Charlotte, questions still remain for American.
“It’s unclear if the current strategy will close the margin gap to its peers,” Melius Research airline analyst Conor Cunningham said about American. “It will take a lot of time to execute. You can’t just turn premium revenue on.”
Cunningham added, “It took Delta over a decade to cultivate a premium image,” pointing to the U.S. profit leaders’ transformation.
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Dow Jones futures will open Sunday evening, along with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures. The stock market rally had a strong, broad rebound Friday, with bitcoin surging following massive losses. The Dow Jones hit a record high above 50,000 as many sectors are thriving. The S&P 500 rallied back above its 50-day moving average. But the Nasdaq remains below…
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Fanatics Betting & Gaming CEO Matt King discusses Superbowl bets, a commercial collaboration with Kendall Jenner and more on ‘The Claman Countdown.’
Super Bowl commercials reportedly aim to target a less traditional audience ahead of the NFL title game on Sunday.
Though the league’s championship game has often been associated with older men, major companies are using the game to reach out to both Gen Z and female viewers with their latest advertisements.
“[I]f we had made something that didn’t speak to Gen Z or didn’t appeal to women, I think we would have been missing the mark,” Laura Jones, chief marketing officer of Instacart, told Variety on Wednesday.
‘SUPER BOWL BREAKFAST’ RETURNS WITH FOCUS ON LEADERSHIP AND LEGACY AHEAD OF NFL SHOWCASE
Ads ahead of the Super Bowl are hoping to reach broader audiences. (Kirby Lee-Imagn Images via Reuters / Reuters)
Super Bowl ratings reached record levels in 2025 with approximately 127.7 million people tuning in to the game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs.
This broke the previous record set one year prior in 2024 at about 123.4 million viewers.
With more viewers than ever before expected to watch the Big Game between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots, major companies are hoping to appeal to the widest audience possible, which includes a growing female demographic.
“We are seeing female viewership in sports hold or continue to rise,” Mars Snacking senior director Diane Sayler told Variety. “And I do think that networks and leagues are getting better at telling the story of the players and telling more than just the story on the field. And I actually believe that is what is driving a lot more female interest in this space.”
KENDALL JENNER TURNS ‘KARDASHIAN KURSE’ INTO SUPER BOWL LX BETTING STRATEGY FOR FANATICS SPORTSBOOK
2025’s Super Bowl had a record number of viewers with even more expected in 2026. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Companies have attempted to bridge the gap between age and gender demographics by using celebrity appearances, often partnering several celebrities such as actor Ben Stiller and singer Benson Boone to appeal to broader audiences.
“Most marketing today is very targeted. You have to deliver a specific message to specific audiences,” Tim Calkins, a marketing professor at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, told Variety. “With the Super Bowl, that’s not the case, because you’ve got a huge range of differences. And the Super Bowl is so expensive you really don’t want to miss out on a significant portion of the audience.”
Media Research Center video host Justine Brooke Murray told Fox News Digital that the new marketing strategy was “spot on” but urged companies to instead focus on avoiding divisive politics.
HOSTING A SUPER BOWL PARTY? EXPECT A HIGHER FOOD BILL THIS YEAR
Super Bowl LX will air on Feb. 8 at Levi’s Stadium in California. (Kirby Lee-Imagn Images via Reuters / Reuters)
“We want to be entertained, not sold a weird version of body positivity that includes ads flashing sweaty armpits across the screen as we reach for another nacho,” Murray said. “Those of us who grew up in the 2000s, zoomers, would love to see a return to ads that sold us things we actually like: chips, and cookies – not a political agenda.”
She added, “Large corporations have already learned their lesson, that appealing to the gender-bending 0.0001% of our population with men wearing bikinis is inclusive to almost nobody. Just be funny and keep politics out of it!”
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Super Bowl LX will be played at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
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