Monday Reading: American Airlines CEO talks about a new livery and other things

Another OU/Texas weekend spent with family and friends has come and gone and I’m a little sad that it’s over. Of course I’m certain that Texas fans are feeling even worse after watching the Longhorns lose by 42 points. The final score was OU 63, Texas 21.

I had a Red River Reader Giveaway on Friday that offered two prizes:

A random drawing for American Airlines Amenity Kit

A Cathay Pacific Amenity Kit for closest guess to actual score of the game

And the winners are:

Ralph L for winning the random drawing

and

kaye for coming closest to the actual score

Thanks to everyone for participating!

Don’t forget the the Frugal Travel Guy’s Monday Deal of the Day is sponsored by AAdvantage. Go here and share your best AA or AAdvantage related tip for a chance to win 2,500 miles!

Anyway, I was offline all weekend so I spent some time today getting caught up on my reading.  I came across an interview that American Airlines CEO Tom Horton gave to Andrea Ahles of the Fort Worth Star Telegram.

During the interview the subject of changing American’s livery and branding came up, here’s an excerpt:

Star Telegram (ST): As the company emerges from bankruptcy, will American change their livery and brand image?

Horton: As you know our new 787s are composite so they can’t be polished metal. That’s a physical fact and the new Airbuses have a whole lot of composite on them as well. So I think I’ve already said this so I’ll say it again here, I think that dictates that our airplanes will have to have some paint on them and you’re just going to have to stay tuned on that. We’ve been doing a lot of thinking about it. Not just the look of the livery but what the brand should be and stand for as we come out of this as the new American. We’ve put a couple of years of work into that and it’s nearing completion.

ST: You’ve had this livery for how many years?

Horton: 44 years, but who’s counting? And it’s one of the great brands of the world. It’s recognizable to a lot of folks. It’s a good brand.

ST: Is the new livery and brand something we will see pre-emergence from bankruptcy or post-emergence?

Horton: I can’t tell you that yet. You’ll just have to wait and see.

It’s the most extensive interview of Mr. Horton that I’ve read to date.  Ms. Ahles touches on many subjects: delays, the 757 seat issue, contract negotiations with the pilots, even Mr. Horton’s own employment contract (he’s still working under his pre-bankruptcy, pre-CEO agreement).

Definitely worth reading.

An interview with AMR CEO Horton, Part I (the loose seats problem)

An interview with AMR CEO Horton, Part II (fewer delays, on-time is getting better)

An interview with AMR CEO Horton, Part III (the Oneworld edition)

An interview with AMR CEO Horton, Part IV (Eagle’s future, US Airways and restructuring progress)

An interview with AMR CEO Horton, Part V (let’s talk about pilots)

An interview with AMR CEO Horton, Part VI (wrap-up and a livery question)