We were discussing this on our internal west webboard. Some made the argument that Horton deserved consideration because he has been, for the most part, an AMR guy his whole career versus Dug who took the nomad management route after he left AA.
The biggest reason, in my little opinion, is that Dug has 12 years as CEO. He kept AWA afloat after 9/11. He cleaned up a big mess at us Airways. He certainly has made mistakes but he has learned from them. LCC has made money for the past 3 years and last year was the best yet since the merger. The RASM for the start of this year was way above last years numbers.
So Dug has a good track record. Horton has had no real plan and made no secret of his plans to not grow AA mainline. This is not the time for Horton to start the learning curve of airline CEO. Actually running an airline, versus managing one out of CH11, requires skill and experience. It is better to go with the veteran starting pitcher versus the journeyman who spent a long time on the bench