Isom Keeps Turning Over the Puck
American's CEO still doesn't get it.
Dear readers,
By now you should know the top headlines from last week’s Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference. I won’t repeat them. You should come to The Airline Observer for the insider-y stuff that others don’t cover.
What they didn’t cover is how Robert Isom once again proved he is both bland and seemingly incapable of selling a compelling narrative about American’s future to investors.
I almost feel bad for the guy. As usual, Scott Kirby — Isom’s former boss and current public antagonizer — soaked up most of the attention at Bernstein with inflammatory comments on JetBlue’s losses. (Kirby was clear he’s not interested in a pre-bankruptcy JetBlue, though he’d gobble up American, should the opportunity arise.)
Kirby likely delights in making Isom look like an amateur. But other CEOs know how to play this rhetorical game too. Even Bob Jordan, whom I once considered the most vanilla man in aviation,1 has learned how to tease investors with enough nuggets to win extra press coverage. (This time, he said Southwest might add first class seats, as well as long-haul flights to as many as a dozen destinations.)
So while Kirby and Jordan played offense at last week’s conference, Isom mostly played defense, just like usual. And not a particularly effective version of it.
Perhaps I should let it go, and admit that’s who Isom is. A former operations chief, Isom is cautious, long preferring controlling costs over investing in cabin interiors, branding, and lucrative (but risky) long-haul flights. Still, I’ll note that, perhaps because I think he wants to retain his job, Isom recently embraced the promise of premium revenues and international flying. There have been improvements; now he must do a better job of communicating it.
Today, I will share with you four things Isom told investors in hopes of changing how investors think of the airline (and his leadership). I respect that Isom no longer views an airline seat as a commodity product, but I still don’t think he fully gets what it will take to turn American around.
Let’s get into it.