Pressure mounts on American Airlines CEO as airline lags behind rivals

american airlinesThe turnaround that was promised has gotten off to a rocky start this year.

Pilot and flight attendant unions are questioning CEO Robert Isom’s leadership as American Airlines’ performance lags its competitors by a wide margin, a trend that has led to lower profit sharing for American’s more than 130,000 employees. Adding to employee frustrations, airlines have struggled to recover from a major winter storm in recent weeks that left flight crews stranded and some without anywhere to sleep next to the airport.

Late Friday, the pilots union sent a letter to the airline’s board of directors asking for a meeting to discuss the airline’s financial and operational challenges.

“Our airlines are on a path of underperformance and have failed to define an identity or a strategy to correct course,” the board of the United Pilots Association said in a statement. The union is looking for “leaders who are motivated, equipped and empowered to keep the house in order.”

Americans earned $111 million last year, more than their profits from corporations. delta airlines and united airlinesAmerican Airlines brought in more than $5 billion and $3.3 billion, respectively, despite having similar operating capacity in 2025.

“We know it’s a small profit distribution and the profit distribution pool this year is very small. Again, once we break even, that’s the profit distribution,” Isom told employees after the Jan. 27 earnings release, according to a recording of the event reviewed by CNBC. “I was disappointed in that.”

American Airlines is trying to catch up with rivals with premium products that offer higher fares, a bright spot for the industry as coach cabin revenues have been slow to grow. It has also been working to undo the damage caused by the failure of its direct-to-travel business travel strategy, which led to the firing of its architect, Mr. American, in May 2024.

2026 is extremely important for airlines.

The Fort Worth, Texas-based airline announced a positive outlook for this year on Jan. 27, with Isom telling flight crews he was optimistic about improvements this year. He also noted that many staff members, such as flight attendants, earn more than their colleagues at United Airlines, where flight attendants and other employees negotiate contracts.

Isom is leading what he advocates as a major change for Americans. This strategy includes improving customer service, network, and revenue management.

This week, the airline delivered the message to about 6,000 leaders at a conference at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.

“As a senior leadership team, we can’t afford to miss any opportunities and we’ve been talking about how we need to be accountable,” Isom said at the event, according to a recording reviewed by CNBC. “It starts with us at the top, but it’s all of us here today and how you lead your team. 2026 can’t just feel different. It has to be different.”

American Airlines announced its 2026 outlook as competitors move faster, grappling with the aftermath of a late January winter storm that blanketed much of the United States with snow, ice and sleet, and preparing for a new storm that will eventually hit the airline’s main base in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The financial results, combined with the slow recovery from the storm, drew the ire of pilot and flight attendant union leaders, who represent about 40,000 flight attendants.

Two American Airlines flight operations leaders met with the union this week to discuss recent issues, and the union told its members that “our pilots will no longer accept platitudes, empty words, and a lack of decisive action.”

Julie Hedrick, president of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, said on January 27 that Isom, who takes over as CEO in 2022, “misses the human element”.

Isom acknowledged the challenges American Airlines crews faced during the late January storm that paralyzed large swathes of the United States, calling the weather “probably the most impactful” in his decades with the airline.

2025 has been a particularly difficult year for American Airlines. It all began when an Army Blackhawk helicopter collided with an aircraft carrier regional jet arriving at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C., killing all 67 people on board on both planes. The airline and its rival airlines were also affected by the U.S. government shutdown late last year.

“We’re off to a fast start, given the booking trends we saw in January and the record highs in the first three weeks of the year,” Isom told analysts on a Jan. 27 earnings call.

But investors also want the airline to prove its progress.

American Airlines stock has been roughly flat this year. Our competitor is located 32 miles away in Dallas. southwest airlinesThe company is also aiming to rebuild, and its stock price is expected to rise more than 30% in 2026. Shares of United Airlines and Delta Air Lines are up more than 3% and 8%, respectively, over the year.

Investors are in a frenzy after forecasts that Southwest Airlines’ profits could quadruple this year. The airline recently sealed its biggest transformation in its nearly 55 years (much to the chagrin of some travelers). Last month we allocated seats for the first time, added baggage fees for the first time ever, introduced basic economy tickets and other changes. Investor confidence pushed Southwest stock to its highest level in nearly four years after last month’s earnings report.

All U.S. airlines are investing heavily in travel that is more upscale than the standard bus, and even Southwest Airlines is considering opening its first airport lounge, its CEO told CNBC last year.

American Airlines is similarly retrofitting its wide-body planes with larger single business-class cabins, installing three-class cabins on Airbus’ new narrow-body planes and expanding its airport lounges. The company has also revamped its food and beverage options, including offering Lavazza coffee and Champagne Bollinger. In preparation for our 100th anniversary this spring, we will also be adding caviar and beef Wellington to our long-distance premium cabins.

Isom said he expects half of American Airlines’ revenue to come from “premium products” toward the end of the decade.

One of the big battles for Americans is Chicago O’Hare International Airport. united Scott Kirby, the CEO American Airlines fired in 2016, has vowed to distance himself from his former employer.

Both airlines plan to ramp up their schedules there next summer. Deutsche Bank estimated in a Monday note that United Airlines generates about $10 billion in revenue at O’Hare Airport and American Airlines generates more than $5 billion in revenue.

Around the time American Airlines reported its earnings, United Airlines installed a digital billboard in Chicago that read, “More on-time flights, fewer canceled flights. AAdvantage, United,” using the same spelling as American’s loyalty program, AAdvantage. Bankrupt Spirit Airlines is also seeking to transfer two gates at Chicago O’Hare to United for $30 million, which would further strengthen United’s position at the airport.

But from Chicago to Charlotte, Americans still have questions.

Conor Cunningham, an aviation analyst at Melius Research, said of American Airlines, “It’s unclear whether its current strategy will close the margin gap with its peers.” “It’s going to take a lot of time to implement. You can’t just turn on premium income.”

“Delta has taken more than a decade to develop its premium image,” Cunningham added, pointing to the transformation of U.S. profit leadership.