A strong end to American's summer operation

As we wrapped up August and the summer travel period, here's a note I shared with the #AATeam recapping our solid operational performance.

Fellow team members,

This summer felt different. And, that's because it was different — in an incredibly positive way for our customers and team. You all rose to the challenge and delivered a safe and reliable operation for our customers. In many regards, it was our best summer season yet — especially when it comes to completion factor (CF) and controllable completion factor (CCF). And though every day of the period was important, you worked together to ensure that every major summer holiday — times when our customers were counting on us most — was a success.

August wasn't an easy month to close out the summer travel season: We had three hurricanes that impacted our operation — Hilary, Franklin and Idalia — the devastating wildfires in Maui and persistent record-breaking heat throughout the country. That's on top of the more standard operational issues; for instance, MIA's ramp was closed for 223 minutes due to thunderstorms Aug. 17.

Despite these challenges, our August operational performance is something to celebrate, especially when you consider we flew more customers on more flights than last year. Here's how we did:

• Keeping the operation running by minimizing cancellations: We had our best-ever August for CF (98.8%) and CCF (99.9%). This was a significant year-over-year improvement in both metrics; CF this August was 2.1 points better than last August.
• Delivering an on-time operation for our customers: We led the industry in on-time departures (D-0) for the month and had our best-ever August for D-0 and on-time arrivals (A+14). We also continue to lead the industry year-to-date in D-0.
• Focus on bags: Last month we had our lowest mishandled bag rate for August since 2017, with a 10% year-over-year improvement.

I also want to take a moment to acknowledge our exceptional Labor Day weekend performance, our best-ever for the period in CF, CCF, D-0 and A+14. Over the six-day period, we canceled only 37 of our nearly 32,000 combined flights, and 31 of those were a result of Hurricane Idalia.

As we close in on fall, we should see some cooler temperatures (which should bring much-needed relief to our team members across the system) and a bit of a shoulder season before we officially gear up for the holidays. That said, it's important to maintain our persistent focus on safety, reliability and our customers every day.

Finally, on a personal note, it was great to spend time out in the operation this summer, connecting with our hard-working team members who make our operation move every day. You are truly the best in the business; for that, I thank you and I salute you.

David Seymour