This
Eagle Gave Wings To Everyone
 Next
Monday as The CNS Partnership Conference kicks off in Carlsbad, California
the keynote speaker will be an executive of this business that changed
the industry forever.
Robert Crandall, the former CEO of AMR & American
Airlines will be the speaker.
During 2009 the air transportation business celebrates
the 90th anniversary of sustained airline service, which began in the
post World War I year with paper and bailing wire bi-planes buzzing above
the fields of Europe and the United States.
In this challenged anniversary year, it is worth
recalling the legendary U.S. airline builders—American’s C.R.
Smith, Pan Am’s Juan Trippe, TWA’s Jack Frye, United’s
Pat Patterson—and, more recently, American’s Robert Crandall.
Although he would be the first to play down comparisons,
history is showing that Mr. Crandall’s ranking eleven years after
he stepped down from the post of chairman, president, and CEO of AMR Corp.—parent
company of American Airlines, where he also served as chairman and CEO—places
the trim and determined executive firmly amongst the greatest airline
builders of all time.
Perhaps the innovation Mr. Crandall will be best
remembered for is the introduction of Super Saver fares.
The fares, together with his subsequent development
and introduction of the largest CRS system and the first frequent flier
program, led TheWall Street Journal to call him the man who changed
the way the world flies.
Among his other innovations were the separation
of the airline from the company’s non-airline business and the creation
of numerous independent business entities.
But innovation was not his only legacy. In the
early 1980’s, Mr. Crandall changed the competitive landscape by
negotiating the industry’s first two-tier salary scale, a development
that allowed American to grow explosively during the 1980’s.
In those years, as the industry tested various
strategic responses to deregulation, American established several key
U.S. hubs and transformed itself from a domestic airline to one of the
world’s premier international carriers.
When he assumed the airline’s presidency
in 1980, Mr. Crandall set out to build an outstanding management team
in all phases of the business including operations, planning, finance,
marketing, pricing, and scheduling.
In the years since, American has often been described
as the “graduate school” for U.S. airline managers.
Today, many “graduates” of the “American
School” populate executive suites of leading businesses, both in
the U.S. and abroad.
While replete with success, his career did not
lack for challenges.
By the late 1980’s as the U.S. economy slowed
and then stalled in the aftermath of the Gulf War, the fastest growing,
most successful airline of the 1980’s was squeezed tightly by higher
fuel prices and union determination to undo the “B scale”
that had driven the company’s growth.
The latter development led, ultimately, to a brief
flight attendant walkout during the Thanksgiving holidays of 1994.
Having overcome these setbacks, American was,
by the time Mr. Crandall retired in May 1998, again at the top of its
game.
Today he is still out among us, sharp as ever.
When he speaks, whether at The Wings Club in New
York or some other top business forum such as CNS, he always makes news.
Witness at CNS, Mr. Crandall reportedly has several
media interview requests already in place.
To look at him, you just have to say that this
man was born to be a top executive. Mr. Crandall is, quite simply, “Mr.
American Business.”
He commands attention whether up close and personal
or at the microphone in front of a large audience.
Crandall is straightforward and rarely ducks a
tough question, addressing every subject with well-stated and carefully
thought out responses.
Unlike other great airline pioneers, who at least
in public were mostly silent, Mr. Crandall has often served as a spokesman
for the airline industry’s views on topical subjects.
Here are some comments he made addressing The
Wings Club last year.
“We have failed to confront the reality
that unfettered competition just doesn’t work very well in certain
industries, as amply demonstrated by our airline experience.
"In my view, it is time to acknowledge that
airlines look and are like utilities than ordinary businesses.
"Our U.S. government has failed to develop
a national transportation plan of any kind and has thus been indifferent
to the continuing decline of our highways, our railroads and our airlines.
“The government has failed to invest in
the capabilities and resources which only it can provide, most notably
by failing to implement the new air traffic control system that everyone
agrees we desperately need.
“An analyst from Mars, just arrived and
knowing nothing of the industry’s background, might be forgiven
for believing that the entire problem can be laid at OPEC’s doorstep.
"If only fuel prices were lower, the Martian
might conclude the industry would have no problem.
"Looking around the room I see no Martians,
but lots of folks who can remember—as I do— when the industry
lost money while paying far less for fuel than it does today, while the
price of fuel—and particularly the rapid rate at which it has risen—has
certainly complicated the management challenge, it is clear that fuel
prices are not the core of the problem
"Nor is inadequate scale. These days, the
solution de jeure seems to be mergers, and many voices clamor that consolidation
is both inevitable and imperative.
"In my view, the arguments in favor of consolidation
are unpersuasive.
"Mergers will not lower fuel prices.
"They will not increase economies of scale
for already sizable major airlines.
"They will require major capital expenditures
and are likely to increase labor costs
"Finally, they will disadvantage many employees,
whose incentive to provide good service will be further reduced.
"If consolidation were really the answer,
it is conceivable that the system could be run by a single efficient operator
"However consumers clearly benefit from the
existence of multiple airlines; the absence of alternatives does not encourage
good customer service.
"Thus, our goal should be to harness competition
and regulation to create a system responsive to both the imperative of
efficiency and the desirability of decent service.”
So despite a tough economy and other threats and
distractions in 2009, plus an agenda for change that will keep CNS conferees
quite busy next week, at the start of it all will come an opportunity
to discover what a really smart guy and an individual who is a genuine
transportation original, thinks about what is going on all around us.
To have an hour of power with Robert Crandall
is worth a trip to anywhere.
To experience this time together with many world
leaders of air cargo and then have a couple of days to discuss thoughts
and ideas as they unfold in Carlsbad and beyond, can be viewed as a gift
and an opportunity.
Robert Crandall always calls it as he sees it.
This eagle gave wings to everyone.
Geoffrey
CNS said that at Carlsbad, registeration opens
on premises starting Sunday morning.
More: www.cnsc.net.
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British
charter broker Chapman Freeborn has changed both the shareholder and
management structure of the enterprise. 
Newly
appointed CEO is Russi Batliwala the former global head of cargo at
CF, while Shane Ouzounian became COO and Peter Joarder CFO.
President
of AATA is Lisa Schoppa (Continental Airlines Cargo) who reports that
this important event is ready to go with a varied and interesting program
and report on what the organization is doing to raise the lot of animals
traveling in all modes of transportation.
Air
Europa, second largest carrier in Spain, recently has signed a contract
with Leisure Cargo GmbH, Dusseldorf for provision of Total Cargo Management
services.
