American Airlines CEO is clearly exasperated when asked about Boeing—‘I look forward to the day when they’re not just a distraction’
Boeing has been plagued by missteps and delays all year, and despite appointing new leadership, the CEO of one of its biggest customers is not exactly doing cartwheels.
In the aftermath of the Alaska Airlines door plug scare in January that brought Boeing’s problems to the forefront, American Airlines CEO Robert Isom quickly became the aircraft manufacturers’ critic-in-chief. In an interview with CNBC Thursday, Isom said he’s looking forward to Boeing righting the ship.
“For Boeing—it’s just, I look forward to the day where they’re not just a distraction. We’ve been struggling with them for—you know over the last five years,” Isom said.
He added that he’s had conversations with the company’s new CEO, Kelly Ortberg, and his message has been clear: do better.
“We need Boeing to be strong, and that’s what I’ve told Kelly,” Isom said. “At the end of the day though, we need them to deliver quality aircraft on time, and I’ll be welcoming that phone call when Boeing says we’re going to do that.”
Isom’s most recent comments come after he previously expressed his frustration with the aircraft manufacturer on American Airlines’ first quarter earnings call.
“I’ve talked to everyone at Boeing that I can possibly address, and the message is the same: Get your act together,” he said at the time.
In a filing from April, American Airlines said it expected to only receive three 787 Dreamliners from the six it previously expected, and said it was reevaluating its schedule and how it would be affected because of the Boeing delivery delays. Yet, experts previously told Fortune that unlike Southwest Airlines, which exclusively flies Boeing aircraft, American was likely to be more insulated from the aircraft manufacturers’ delays because it can use other aircraft to backfill.
Boeing and American Airlines did not immediately respond to Fortune‘s request for comment.
Isom in the Thursday interview also downplayed the effect of Boeing’s problems on the company, even as the aircraft manufacturer reports a $6 billion loss for the third quarter and faces more labor unrest after the company’s striking machinists rejected its latest contract proposal this week. Despite those struggles, Isom said American will meet the goals it set for capacity regardless of whether Boeing delivers or not.
“I feel really confident about us being able to deliver, and managing our business no matter what’s going on at Boeing.”
