American Airlines, a company at the forefront

Travel2latam spoke with José María Giraldo, Managing Director of Operations for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean of American Airlines.

What feeling do you have from the company regarding the opening of the international market?

For us, the opening of the market here in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean has been completely positive, leaving behind the COVID period. In terms of figures and numbers, not only have we increased what we had before COVID, but we have many more operations than we had before. And we have also made some important announcements of even bigger growth for next winter, since this year the region shows one of the periods of greatest movement.

Although American Airlines is a company of American origin, it is very well received in different markets in Latin America and the Caribbean….

If right. The footprint we have in Latin America is very important and we are the American airline with the largest number of operations, not only in Mexico, but also in Central America and the Caribbean. For the summer, we are surpassing up to 314 daily flights to more than 90 destinations in the region. And this, as I mentioned before, represents an increase of 12%, compared to the pre-pandemic. So we are an airline with a very strong commitment to Latin America, keeping ourselves very visible and current in all the markets where we have been operating without interruption.

What is the situation regarding connectivity? How do you feel about it in general?

The region has obviously had a strong demand and we have seen a significant increase especially in rest destinations. Throughout Latin America there has been a significant increase and something that we have also seen is that it is setting an important trend with respect to business travelers. And while business travelers have not been growing at the same rate as leisure destinations. Today we see that travel times are increasing more, and a trend is being generated in that line.

What is the commercial perspective that you had planned for this year?

What we expected to be operating by the summer of this year has been fulfilled, we have even increased our operations. In addition, we are announcing new routes for this winter. This allows us to see with great optimism what is coming in the immediate future from the next winter season.

For example, in the Caribbean we are currently operating up to 850 flights in 40 destinations for the winter and we will be increasing to 960 weekly flights; In addition, we will add a new destination in the region. The solidity with which the market has been managed and not only in the Caribbean, we also see it in Mexico, where we are increasing our operations, or in the case of Central America, where we will also have a significant increase in Costa Rica with the two destinations that we operate in San José and Liberia.

There are three fundamental points in this question: fleet renewal, sustainability and human resources. I would like you to comment on how you work at American Airlines to be at the forefront.

We continue with the renovation Including new equipment today. As an American airline, we have the youngest fleet in the market. This obviously allows us to be much more sustainable, we are even saving fuel by having state-of-the-art equipment. This year we will continue to receive aircraft, which obviously are further strengthening our fleet and keeping the age of the aircraft that we are currently operating very low. Regarding human resources, 

We continue to hire personnel and speaking specifically of Latin America, we have a very large operation, not only from the point of view of operational employees, but also with our reservation centers in Port of Spain, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Monterrey, Mexico City , and other points in the region, which obviously makes the business very dynamic and we continue hiring. Obviously, there are some beach destinations where it is a bit more complex, but it has been achieved. 

Thinking about it, there are Latin American airlines that have tried different formats, but American Airlines always maintained the decision not to migrate...

Correct, it is related to not following a current, being serene and sure of your convictions. What we have always maintained is obviously the level of service that we offer to our clients and with a strengthening of connectivity. The growth that we have had in our main hubs, such as Dallas or Miami, which is the gateway to Latin America, allows us to strengthen ourselves and that our clients find a very complete network of connectivity, and that is what allows us to maintain our service or our trade with the same philosophy of providing the best service. In fact, we have registered very high customer satisfaction and compliance indicators with several records for days without cancellations. 

What is your vision of what can happen next season?

We are noticing a demand that may have to do with many factors that were related to the pandemic, and we came out of it raising sustained growth. We see it in advance bookings and in operations. And this is why we also see interest from the American market, which is obviously our main market, massive towards Latin America.

Also, people are looking for more travel, and they have changed the dynamics of what they want to do. Our passengers don't want fast trips, they want short trips and to destinations that are relatively close, which is why we are making two important increases in our winter operations. For this season, Cancun is going to be our largest international destination, since we are going to reach 40 flights with 18 destinations. And among these 18 destinations, we are going to appeal three new routes from the United States, such as Pittsburgh, Nashville and Cincinnati. So I think this is a clear example of what we're seeing in the market, and how it's still pretty strong as we look into next year.

What is the technology used both on board and on land?

For us, investments in technology are essential, in fact, we have implemented several systems that allow us to improve our operations, such as the so-called Heat, which is a program that we implement in our main hubs, which allows us to anticipate or manage more effectively. the operation when we have, for example, weather problems.

If we talk about what our customers want on board, obviously, all our planes are equipped with Wi-Fi. We have an entertainment system in which, today, our passengers from their laptops, ipads or mobile phones have free access to a very important list of movies and news, and can maintain connectivity anywhere in the world where the flights, as well as at airports. On the other hand, we are investing in technology in new kiosks, improving the customer experience in self-checked bags. 

In addition, our advantage loyalty program is one of the main ones on the market and obviously we are always looking for a way to make this program more dynamic, either through our agreements with credit cards to be able to accumulate more miles or by making it easier for passengers the redemption of points and enriching the program in general.