American Airlines

In 1934, American Airways Company became American Airlines, Inc. It is now
one of the divisions operated by its parent company, AMR Corp. AMR Corp.
also operates American Eagle Airlines, Inc (which includes Executive Air.)
and American Connection. Trans World Airlines, LLC was operated by AMR
before it was consolidated into AA. The CEO is Gerard Arpey and the chairman
is Edward A. Brennan.

American Airlines' IATA designator is AA.

American Airlines developed from a conglomeration of about 82 small airlines
companies through a series of corporate acquisitions and reorganizations. In
1934, American Airways Company, in financial straits, was acquired by a
corporate raider, E.L. (Errett Lobban) Cord. who renamed the company
"American Airlines".

One of the early American Airlines presidents, C.R. (Cyrus Rowlett) Smith,
worked closely with Donald Douglas to develop the DC-2, which American
Airlines started flying in 1936.

As of May 2002, American Airlines served 172 cities with a fleet of 833
aircraft - with an average of 2800 daily departures. The average age of
their aircraft is 10.8 years. (from the AMR Corp. page at
http://www.amrcorp.com/)

American Airlines moved its corporate headquarters from New York to the
Dallas/Ft.Worth, Texas area in 1979.

Two American Airlines aircraft were hijacked and crashed during the
September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack, Flight 77, a Boeing 757 and Flight 11,
a Boeing 767.

American Airlines is part of the airline alliance Oneworld. They also
codeshare rail service to stations in France with SNCF French Rail, Belgium
with Thalys International, Germany with Deutsche Bahn and stations in
Switzerland (one of which also serves France), with Swiss Rail

Other facts of interest

   * American Airlines hired the first American Black commercial airline
     pilot.
   * American Airlines was showcased prominently on the Home Alone movie
     series.
   * Mattel released a series of American Airline stewardess Barbie dolls.