Over the past several years, the largest airlines in the United States have made a noticeable push toward premium offerings, prioritizing things like airport lounges, in-flight perks, and premium seating options. For American Airlines, it sounds like that push is just beginning.
As the airline continues to roll out premium offerings, one company executive has made it clear that American is going to continue prioritizing premium offerings to boost its profitability in the future.
Airlines Push Toward Premium Offerings
In recent years, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic, the nation’s major airlines have begun to embrace more premium offerings. This has even included traditionally bare-bones airlines like Southwest and Spirit, which have both added premium seating offerings lately.
Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian recently took notice of this approach, expressing his belief that the other airlines were following Delta’s lead in this regard.
“Every airline in the United States has changed their strategy post-COVID,” Bastian said this week. “You talk about some of these other airlines, whether it’s Spirit going through a second bankruptcy and you got Frontier saying they’re going to put more premium offerings out, Southwest changing their mind, American changing — everyone has changed their mind except Delta.”
American Airlines Embraces Premium Options
As the vast majority of airlines throughout the country expand their premium offerings, American Airlines has been no exception.
Recently, American began rolling out its brand new Flagship Suites and premium economy seats that debuted on its new Boeing 787-9P planes, where the “P” stands for “premium.”
It is also set to begin flying the airline’s new Airbus A321XLRs from JFK to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on Dec. 18.
A Telling Message to Customers
American Airlines has made its strategy clear in recent years, and it sounds like that strategy is going to continue into future years, as well.
During a recent speech at a Goldman Sachs investor conference, American Chief Financial Officer Devon May had a telling message for customers as he made it clear that the airline is intent on continuing to become a “premium global airline.”
“We’re excited to be a premium global airline. We believe that’s where the demand trends will go,” he said, via The Points Guy.
He even acknowledged that the company would be more profitable if it had those premium offerings already.
“I think if we had more [premium] today, we’d be more profitable today,” he said.
Needless to say, it’s pretty clear what the airline is going to prioritize in the future.
