American Airlines is trying to win back American corporations after missing out on some $1.5 billion in revenue last year in a failed bid to overhaul how it competes for business travel, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The airline is moving to restore some perks, introducing deep discounts and rebuilding its sales ranks to win over what has been one of its most reliable and lucrative groups of customers—the business traveler.
While American Airlines is the nation’s second-largest carrier by passenger traffic, its rivals have siphoned away corporate travelers. United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, which accounted for most of the industry’s profits last year, both reported gains in business travel.
To win over companies, American CEO Robert Isom has been on an apology tour, calling up or meeting with the CEOs of International Business Machines, Microsoft, Ernst & Young and dozens more of the airline’s large corporate customers to hear their concerns. The airline in October hosted a customer forum at its headquarters.
While American’s share of revenue from companies and agencies remains below historic levels, the airline says those bookings have been picking up. Isom says he expects to keep recapturing corporate market share over the course of this year.
