Pressure mounts on American Airlines CEO as airline lags behind rivals

american airlinesThe promised change is off to a rocky start this year.

Pilot and flight attendant unions have questioned CEO Robert Isom's leadership as the airline's performance has lagged behind its rivals by a wide margin, a trend that has resulted in lower profit sharing for American's more than 130,000 employees. Adding to employee frustration, the airline struggled to recover from major winter storms in recent weeks and crews were left stranded, some without a place to sleep next to the airport.

On Friday night, the pilots union wrote to the airline's board of directors requesting a meeting to discuss the airline's financial and operational challenges.

“Our airline is on a path of underperformance and has failed to define an identity or strategy to correct course,” wrote the Allied Pilots Association board of directors. The union called for “leaders who are willing, equipped and able to put the house in order.”

Isom responded Saturday that as a board member and CEO, it is “most appropriate” to meet as soon as possible.

“The Board and I are aligned with you in the desire to make American the strongest airline possible in every respect,” he wrote.

American earned $111 million last year, an amount dwarfed by the profits of Delta Airlines and united airlineswhich generated $5 billion and more than $3.3 billion, respectively, despite American flying similar capacity in 2025.

“I know it's a slim profit-sharing, a very small profit-sharing pool this year. Again, when you break even, that's the kind of profit-sharing you have,” Isom told employees after releasing earnings results on Jan. 27, according to a recording of the event reviewed by CNBC. “I'm disappointed about that.”

American is trying to catch up to rivals with premium products that command higher fares, a bright spot in the industry as coach cabin revenue growth has been elusive. He has also worked to reverse the damage of a failed direct-to-traveler business travel strategy, whose architect American overthrew in May 2024.

2026 is crucial for the airline.

The Fort Worth, Texas-based airline issued an optimistic outlook for the year on Jan. 27, and Isom told crews he was optimistic about improvements this year. He also noted that many employees, such as flight attendants, earn more than their counterparts at United, where cabin crews and other employees are in contract negotiations.

Isom is leading what he has presented as a major transformation of the United States. The strategy includes improving customer service, network and revenue management.

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

“We've had conversations as a senior leadership team about how we can't pass up any opportunity… how we need to hold ourselves accountable,” Isom said at the event, according to a transcript obtained by CNBC. “It all starts with us at the top, but it's all of us here today and how you lead your teams. 2026 can't just feel different. It has to be different.”

American issued its 2026 forecast as it juggled the fallout from a late January winter storm that battered much of the United States with snow, ice and sleet and prepared for another storm that ended up battering its main hub of Charlotte, North Carolina, as competitors dug faster.

The financial results, along with the slow recovery from the storm, drew the ire of union leaders for pilots and flight attendants, who together represent about 40,000 crew members.

This week, two American Airlines flight operations leaders met with the union to discuss recent issues, and the union told its members: “Our pilots will no longer accept platitudes, empty words and the absence of decisive action.”

Association of Professional Flight Attendants President Julie Hedrick said Jan. 27 that Isom, who became CEO in 2022, “is missing the human factor” and that “many of us have been here a long time and we don't see an end that puts us in a better place.”

Isom acknowledged the problems American crew members faced during the late January storm that paralyzed a large swath of the United States, calling the weather “probably the most impactful” during his decades at the airline.

American had an especially difficult 2025, beginning with the collision of an Army Black Hawk helicopter with one of the carrier's regional planes arriving at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC, killing all 67 people on both flights. The airline and its rivals were also hit by the US government shutdown late last year.

“We're off to a fast start based on the booking trends we've seen in January, all-time highs for the first three weeks of the year,” Isom told analysts on the Jan. 27 earnings conference call.

But investors also want the airline to demonstrate its progress.

American's stock is largely flat this year. Its competitor, 20 miles away in Dallas, Southwest Airlinesis also trying to turn itself around and its shares are up more than 30% in 2026. Shares of United and Delta are up more than 3% and more than 8%, respectively, during the year.

Southwest's forecast that it could quadruple its profits this year has had investors in a bullish frenzy. That airline recently sealed the biggest transformation in its nearly 55 years of flying (to the chagrin of some travelers): assigning seats for the first time, adding its first baggage fees and implementing basic economy tickets and other changes. Investor confidence boosted Southwest's stock to a nearly four-year high last month after it reported results.

All U.S. airlines are investing heavily in high-end travel rather than standard coach travel, and even Southwest is considering opening its first airport lounge, its chief executive told CNBC last year.

American is also upgrading its wide-body planes with larger individual business-class cabins, installing a three-class cabin on new narrow-body Airbuses and expanding its airport lounges. The airline has also revamped its food and beverage options, including offering Lavazza coffee and Bollinger champagne. For its centennial this spring, it will also add caviar and beef Wellington for premium long-haul cabins.

Isom has said he expects half of American's revenue to come from “premium offerings” by the end of the decade.

A major battle for American is at Chicago O'Hare International Airport, where United CEO Scott Kirby, who American fired in 2016, has vowed to keep his former employer in line.

Both companies are expanding their hours there next summer. Deutsche Bank estimated in a note Monday that United generates about $10 billion in revenue at O'Hare and that American generates more than $5 billion.

Around the time American reported its earnings, United posted a digital billboard in Chicago that read “More on time, fewer canceled flights. Aadvantage, United,” using the same spelling as American's AAdvantage loyalty program. Bankrupt Spirit Airlines is also trying to transfer two gates at Chicago O'Hare to United for $30 million, which would give United more land at the airport.

But from Chicago to Charlotte, questions still remain for American.

“It's unclear whether the current strategy will close the margin gap with peers,” Conor Cunningham, airline analyst at Melius Research, said of American. “It will take a long time to execute. You can't just generate premium income.”

Cunningham added: “It took Delta more than a decade to cultivate a premium image,” noting the transformation of America's profit leaders.