American Airlines CEO Robert Isom has been widely criticized in recent times, due to the extent to which the carrier lags competitors Delta and United. This is true in terms of profitability, and it’s also true in terms of passenger experience.
American’s labor groups haven’t been happy either, with the flight attendant union issuing a vote of no confidence in Isom, and the pilot union demanding decisive change. Isom has essentially responded to this criticism by claiming that everything is fine and moving in the right direction.
With that in mind, a very different take on Isom has just been published, which… well… I’ll let everyone decide for themselves what they think (thanks to OMAAT reader DL for flagging this — no connection to the airline, I assume). 😉
Academic argues Isom is the greatest CEO ever, basically
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld published an opinion piece in Fortune about how “the skies for American Airlines are clearer than you think.” For context, the 71-year-old is currently the Senior Associate Dean for Leadership Studies and Lester Crown Professor in Management Practice at the Yale School of Management.
Hey, this guy sounds qualified, certainly more qualified than I am to comment on management of a publicly traded company. Okay, maybe I have Isom all wrong, and can learn a thing or two… I’m sure he has some good points!
So let’s look at a few highlights, starting with this in the introduction:
The recent misleading media narrative completely misses the strategic context. The real facts are that Robert Isom is leading American to new heights despite the potshots of misinformed critics and those with their own motivations. Isom’s leadership is a remarkable model of resilience on all dimensions.
Sonnenfeld acknowledges how American only earned a profit of $111 million in 2025, while Delta generated a profit of around $5 billion, and United generated a profit of around $3.4 billion. However, he says that’s not remotely the whole story for three reasons, with the first reason being as follows:
First, of note, American has not produced an annual loss during Isom’s time as CEO. Not even during his first year on the job in 2022, when the pandemic was still having a dramatic impact on the industry and American lost nearly $2 billion in the first quarter of the year.
Right, so all of the US carriers that typically don’t lose money have earned annual profits since 2022. If we’re really digging this low to dole out compliments, then I guess that really sets the tone for the rest of the defense.
Sonnenfeld then goes on to point out that United still doesn’t have new labor contracts, which will eat into the company’s margins, and that’s 100% correct (see, we agree on a point!):
As it relates to 2025, the superficial comparison to peers ignores the most important structural reality in the airline industry today: United currently enjoys a $1 billion-plus annual cost advantage over American because its non-pilot labor groups — flight attendants, mechanics, fleet service workers, and customer service employees — are operating under contracts that dramatically lag market rates. American has contracts in place with all of those groups and its flight attendants are paid roughly 35% more than United’s.
Okay, but also, the narrative around why American has new labor contracts is kind of hilarious:
In other words, Isom has chosen to invest in his people. American has more than 130,000 employees, some 87% of whom are unionized, which is nearly 15x the private sector average for unionized workers in the United States. American has more unionized employees than any airline in the world. Isom paid them fairly, ahead of the competition, because it was the right thing to do. The unions now attacking him represent the best-compensated workforce in the industry. The irony would be amusing if it weren’t so consequential.
I think it’s a bit of a stretch to suggest that employees got new contracts because it’s “the right thing to do,” or because “Isom has chosen to invest in his people.” Instead, it’s because of where they were in the bargaining process with amendable contracts, and the unions have power. I mean, both flight attendant and pilot unions had voted to authorize a strike before new contracts were ratified.
The story then goes on to say that Isom is actually beloved by employees, and the narrative about employee dissatisfaction isn’t real:
We’ve heard grumblings from some that the “no confidence” vote from the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA), as well as grumbling from the Allied Pilots Association, reflects inter-union political dynamics. In one case, a rival faction competing for representation rights through posturing and pandering — more than genuine employee dissatisfaction with Isom, who is anecdotally beloved by his employees.
Now let’s move on to the second reason that Isom is misunderstood:
Second, that comparison to peers misses the fact that American has the strongest network in the U.S. While United and Delta serve a higher mix of international travelers, American offers the most access to air travel in the country while still offering a fantastic product and experience for international, business, and premium flyers.
Yeah, I don’t really have anything to add there. Lol.
Now let’s take a look at the third reason Isom is awesome:
Third, that comparison to peers ignores the fact that Isom has had to navigate unique idiosyncratic headwinds that no CEO could have prevented and which none of American’s competitors had to deal with.
American operates the largest fleet in the world and is one of the largest customers of Boeing equipment. When Boeing’s well-documented production and delivery crises cascaded through the industry, no carrier absorbed more disruption than American because of its fleet order book and the timing of aircraft deliveries. Isom deserves credit for trying to mitigate a terrible supply chain and OEM situation as best he could, by optimizing the flight schedule to account for vast equipment shortages and disruptions.
This is such a half truth. American has taken delivery of more narrow body Airbus jets than narrow body Boeing jets under Isom’s tenure. Yes, the 787s have been delayed a bit, but American has only a fraction as many on order as United. And this whole wide body aircraft shortage wouldn’t have been an issue if American hadn’t retired all A330s, 767s, and 757s, at the start of the pandemic, which was a major strategic blunder.
Admittedly Doug Parker was CEO when that decision was made. Speaking of Parker, get a load of this:
These unheralded accomplishments reflect why Robert Isom was picked as the successor to his legendary predecessor, Doug Parker, in the first place. The architect of the modern U.S. airline industry, Parker navigated mergers and restructurings to build American Airlines into the world’s largest airline, working alongside flight attendants and pilots in rescuing the industry through challenges ranging from 9/11, to the Great Recession to the COVID pandemic. The seamless succession from Parker to Isom reflected a textbook leadership handoff, with Isom building on Parker’s successes in playing to American’s strengths – even if those strengths are sometimes underappreciated by business media.
Guys, I need a drink, or something…
Can someone help me understand what’s going on here?
I’m genuinely curious, can anyone make sense of what’s going on with this opinion piece, exactly? I think some fair points can be made in defense of Isom, and one could argue that he’s a little bit misunderstood. One could also argue he was dealt a bad hand with what he inherited from Parker, and that one strategic blunder (Vasu Raja’s “screw business travelers and fly to El Paso” strategy) really put the carrier on a bad course.
But this story can most closely be compared to North Korean state media talking about Kim Jong Un, in terms of the level of praise.
When I first saw this story, I assumed it was just complete AI slop, based on how it’s written, and I assumed there would be no reputable(ish) name behind it. But then I searched the writer, and it seems like he should be pretty qualified to speak about management at publicly traded companies. However, his defense of Isom is so over-the-top that I really can’t make sense of what’s going on here. If he toned it down a little bit, maybe it would be more believable.
I feel like the story also contains so many of American’s talking points, and it’s all just very strange. On what basis can this guy say that American employees actually love Isom? While he’s an expert on management, it doesn’t appear he necessarily knows that much about airlines, so it’s interesting to see the level of detail he goes into.
So does anyone have a theory as to what’s going on here? Like, this Yale academic just came up with this narrative all on his own? Does he think this is the cheapest path to Concierge Key status, or…? 😉
Bottom line
A Yale academic published an opinion piece for Fortune about how American CEO Robert Isom is actually an incredible leader, and has done an amazing job at the helm of American, countering the narrative we’ve otherwise heard.
While there are absolutely things that can be said in defense of Isom, this is so extreme that I can’t help but highlight it. I am curious what’s going on here — did this guy really just independently arrive at this narrative, or what?
What do you make of this defense of Isom?
