Originally Posted by aa73

Olympic,

One thing you need to know about AA - they are very conservative in adding new routes. They are industry followers, not leaders. The main reason right now is simply a lack of aircraft AND manning - pilots and FAs. AA has zero widebodies on order, and the ones we do have are stretched thin on maximized utilization. Whereas DAL and CAL both have been receiving new int'l aircraft, hence the int'l expansion. Plus they are hiring like crazy. AA, instead, keeps CUTTING the flying EVERY year for the past three years to accomodate the massive retirements, and keeps the recalls at only 30/month. Therein lies the problem.

Example - for the month of March, AA reduced the flying out of EVERY base by 3%. NYC, for example, lost 15 int'l lines!! Simply because there were 143 early outs in Feb, mostly 777 and 767 CAs. So instead of ramping up the recalls to protect the routes, they simply cancel int'l flights and cut the lines. As a result, I went from holding a Europe line in Feb to reserve in March. All this while our direct NYC competition - DAL and CAL - announce increased int'l flying this summer. Boy do we have geniuses running this place. I hope they get very well rewarded with PUP bonuses in April.

<Rant off> 73