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-   -   Airline routes ranked by revenue: AA last. (https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/american/150725-airline-routes-ranked-revenue-aa-last.html)

Margaritaville 07-22-2025 10:12 AM


Originally Posted by MinimumEffort (Post 3930746)
It's a step, but insufficient. It's like a 500-pound person cutting cola from 5 to 3 liters. They aren't prioritizing the right hubs. Instead of focusing on JFK, LAX, MIA, and ORD, they seem to be adding flights in lower-yielding hubs like PHX, DFW, CLT, and PHL. Complaining about competition in those former major markets is weak; when your airline is bad, no one will choose it over four other options. Start by addressing inflight and airport customer service. I served by a gate agent with ugly arm tattoos at PHL the other day with an attitude equally as ugly.

We really are the Stellantis of the airlines and slowly moving towards being the Kia.

We bankruptcy yet?

All you armchair management guys always giving out management advice! Sure glad the finance and marketing departments don't write our manuals! Geez guys. Just move the metal cash the checks and enjoy the days off. This forum is exhausting.


Originally Posted by skruts (Post 3930747)
This has been the case for years and argued to death on this forum so many times. But to your point, the strategy shift at AA has been so apparent that those same blogs began speculating AA would bring back seatback IFE on domestic NBs.

Exactly.

biigD 07-22-2025 10:22 AM


Originally Posted by nene (Post 3930742)
The biggest thing I noticed last year after buying a ticket was the plane we flew on 1/2 way across the country didn't even have IFE, which is free on DAL/UAL/JB. That stands out as a loud statement that we are here to compete with LCC's.

To be fair, we don't have seatback IFE. I'd prefer we offer both, but some carriers only offer the IFE on the seatback, and I'd much prefer to watch content on my own device. And best yet, have both options.

tallpilot 07-22-2025 02:52 PM


Originally Posted by MinimumEffort (Post 3930746)
It's a step, but insufficient. It's like a 500-pound person cutting cola from 5 to 3 liters. They aren't prioritizing the right hubs. Instead of focusing on JFK, LAX, MIA, and ORD, they seem to be adding flights in lower-yielding hubs like PHX, DFW, CLT, and PHL. Complaining about competition in those former major markets is weak; when your airline is bad, no one will choose it over four other options. Start by addressing inflight and airport customer service. I served by a gate agent with ugly arm tattoos at PHL the other day with an attitude equally as ugly.

We really are the Stellantis of the airlines and slowly moving towards being the Kia.

It sounds like they are back to LGA and ORD (mostly RJs since mainline growth is slow). I think LAX is a lost cause because they think having our Alaska partner there is enough.

DFW and CLT are full until they add gates. PHL you are just going to have to deal with. JFK is Delta's European gateway, EWR is United's and we're stuck with PHL but the more RJs they slam in there the more wide-bodies we can fill up.

PHX is all we got out west so hopefully they do something with it.

tallpilot 07-22-2025 02:54 PM


Originally Posted by Margaritaville (Post 3930765)
We bankruptcy yet?

All you armchair management guys always giving out management advice! Sure glad the finance and marketing departments don't write our manuals! Geez guys. Just move the metal cash the checks and enjoy the days off. This forum is exhausting.



Exactly.

Pour yourself another one Jimmy. It's fine if you don't care and you are right we can't do a damn thing about it. But cashing those fat checks until retirement would be easier if we had 10% margins instead of 2 so I hope we make the changes necessary to move upmarket.

Margaritaville 07-22-2025 03:04 PM


Originally Posted by tallpilot (Post 3930866)
Pour yourself another one Jimmy. It's fine if you don't care and you are right we can't do a damn thing about it. But cashing those fat checks until retirement would be easier if we had 10% margins instead of 2 so I hope we make the changes necessary to move upmarket.

Im sure that not only does Mr Isom read this forum he really appreciates your input so keep up the good work. We'll be pulling ahead of Delter soon!

cornerpocket 07-27-2025 11:51 AM

Looks like we’ll incorporate a 777 on some LAX-JFK trips.

https://onemileatatime.com/news/american-777-jfk-lax/



Montcalm 07-27-2025 03:18 PM


Originally Posted by MinimumEffort (Post 3930481)
This site displays domestic routes with the highest revenue for each airline.

https://weekly.visualapproach.io/p/u...mestic-top-ten

Delta and United have routes comparable to each other, with some reaching nearly half a billion. American is last in that comparison, and its best route is still outperformed by JetBlue. It's remarkable how far behind American is.

What's truly eye-opening is that even for American, its most profitable routes are concentrated in New York and Los Angeles, two high-value markets the carrier has willingly retreated from in favor of lower-yielding endeavors.

Reestablishing a meaningful presence there will be exceedingly difficult, due to entrenched competition, slot constraints, and the erosion of brand relevance.

AllYourBaseAreB 07-27-2025 05:01 PM


Originally Posted by Montcalm (Post 3932272)
What's truly eye-opening is that even for American, its most profitable routes are concentrated in New York and Los Angeles, two high-value markets the carrier has willingly retreated from in favor of lower-yielding endeavors.

Reestablishing a meaningful presence there will be exceedingly difficult, due to entrenched competition, slot constraints, and the erosion of brand relevance.

not defending management decisions as a whole one iota but…:

high revenue does not equal high profit. We have no idea if JFK-LAX is high profit for any of the carriers. What we do know is the passenger costs out of those 2 airports are extremely high. Especially when compared to CLT and DFW. Like saying a popular pizza place in Times Square MUST be profitable because of the lines and prices, without knowing their rent bill

MinimumEffort 07-27-2025 06:21 PM


Originally Posted by cornerpocket (Post 3932165)
Looks like we’ll incorporate a 777 on some LAX-JFK trips.

https://onemileatatime.com/news/american-777-jfk-lax/

Wonderful, a 35 year old worn out 777 will compliment the worn out old 321ts nicely.

Montcalm 07-27-2025 06:24 PM


Originally Posted by AllYourBaseAreB (Post 3932348)
not defending management decisions as a whole one iota but…:

high revenue does not equal high profit. We have no idea if JFK-LAX is high profit for any of the carriers. What we do know is the passenger costs out of those 2 airports are extremely high. Especially when compared to CLT and DFW. Like saying a popular pizza place in Times Square MUST be profitable because of the lines and prices, without knowing their rent bill


Nobody’s denying JFK and LAX are expensive. But the idea that high cost kills profitability on high-revenue routes doesn’t hold up. Profit margins aren’t fixed, they scale. Airlines fight for JFK-LAX slots for a reason: because yield is strong, premium demand is high, and unit revenues often offset unit costs.

Delta has major hubs in high-cost markets like JFK and LAX. United centers much of its network around EWR, SFO, and ORD. Clearly, they believe those hubs are profit centers, not liabilities. Would anyone argue that our opposite focus on the Sunbelt has been a more successful strategy over time?

In American’s earnings call, they explicitly cited JFK-LAX and similar coastal hub flying were among their highest-margin operations. Delta and United run widebodies on these routes for a reason, and it’s not charity. (We did too, before scrapping them)

If a pizza joint in Times Square sells $7 slices and has a line out the door all day, odds are it’s doing just fine. High costs don’t erase profit when demand is strong and margins are priced accordingly.


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