Kirby was US Airways - he was the president under Doug pre-merger. He left AA...mutually, that is a fact. The ULCCs have had a good run, and Spirit in particularly is going to have a tough time growing to where they want to be over the next decade. Back in 2014 - the US3 refused to price match Spirit, and the ULCC's grew huge amounts in the legacy's hubs. AA in particular lost tons of market share, as even the arguably better (at the time) AA product was not enough to attract people too AA.

Flash forward to 2018/19 - every legacy is now pricing matching the ULCC's (not necessary on all flights/days throughout the booking curve), and Spirit market share has suffered dramatically as a result. Spirit has publicly stated that they will only grow / add markets that they do not have nonstop legacy competition in. There are not that many 'dots' left to serve, and that is partly why (I speculate) they have not made a large plane order yet.

The trick is segmentation - you have to retain the the most price sensitive customers to fill the plane, without out spoiling, diluting, (and alienating) your inelastic business passengers. Delta has figured this out, and is capitalizing and executing on this strategy extremely well.

AA will be okay, it is just going to be a trying next few years. Watch for a 'grand gesture' over the next several months that says AA has heard your complaints and is pivoting.

I am a very junior captain, at the bottom of reserve, and it is brutal. Worse than I could have imagined - that is why I have applications out everywhere (only at companies that have strong financials and a positive trajectory) as making real money / 401k now, verses in 5 years is something I am not willing to compromise on.