Originally Posted by
AAdvocate
And the reason AA did that was due to a backroom deal Kirby made with Chicago to steal some gates away that went against the post-COVID agreement the airlines had with Chicago. I know the lawsuit got thrown out but it wasn't because American's claim was wrong, it was more due to technicalities. Then the infamous "de-hubbing" slide presentation got leaked and all but forced AA's hand. So yes, it all started with UA and Kirby's ego.
It’s a huge strategic win for American management. I’m glad they’re not boasting about it. We know SK absolutely would be. AA intentionally pushed more connections through DFW-CLT-MIA after Covid as a strategy to convince those cities to award AA more gates—40 new gates awarded in DFW, 17 new gates in MIA, CLT estimate is around 10. They almost got burned in ORD by the city of Chicago. AA will be back to the amount of gates they wanted in ORD by next year.