American Airlines CEO Doug Parker will retire in March and Robert Isom to be the next CEO

American Airlines CEO Doug Parker is stepping down the following year after two decades running airlines and will be succeeded by the carrier’s president, Robert Isom, on March 31, the organization declared Tuesday.

Parker’s retirement as CEO of the biggest U.S. airline is the most recent in a wave of leadership changes at the country’s large carriers, and the new executives are entrusted with driving their recuperation from the Covid pandemic.

American Airlines Group Inc. CEO Doug Parker will retire from that job next year after two decades running airlines, handing the reins to a longtime lieutenant as the organization rises out of the pandemic.

Robert Isom, who has served as American’s president beginning around 2016, will take over as CEO on March 31, 2022, the organization said Tuesday. Mr. Parker will keep on serving as chairman of the American board.

Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly will step down in February, giving control to another longtime executive, Bob Jordan in February. Scott Kirby, who was fired as president of American in 2016, jumped to United Airlines and became that carrier’s CEO in May 2020. Isom, who took Kirby’s job in 2016, has been Parker’s presumptive successor from that point forward.

American Airlines CEO Doug Parker will retire in March and be supplanted by its present president, Robert Isom, as the airline tries to modify after huge losses brought about by the pandemic.

Parker, 60, has led Texas-based American since late 2013 when he engineered a merger with more modest US Airways. He will stay as chairman, American said Tuesday.

Isom, 58, has been the likely successor since becoming American’s president in 2016 after Scott Kirby was constrained out and joined United Airlines, where he presently serves as the CEO. Isom has regulated American’s operations, including sales and pricing, and its alliances with different airlines.

American battled through the greater part of the summer with large quantities of canceled and delayed flights. The disturbances were to a great extent because of staffing shortages after American convinced a large number of representatives to leave last year, possibly to be gotten short when air travel recuperated faster than expected from the depths of the pandemic.

American posted a benefit of $169 million in the third quarter, on account of almost $1 billion in federal pandemic help that covered the greater part of the airline’s payroll costs. However, its debt has ballooned to more than $36 billion as it acquired to overcome the most noticeably awful of the pandemic. Airline officials say they will actually want to pay down debt once business and international travel recuperate.

American faces different challenges, including a Justice Department lawsuit that tries to cancel an agreement to work with JetBlue Airways in setting schedules and service in the Northeast. Relations with unions, especially that of the pilots, have deteriorated under the tension of the airline’s operational inadequacies.

“Over the past several years, our airline and our industry have gone through a period of transformative change, and with change comes opportunity,” Isom said in a prepared statement.

Parker, who will step down as CEO on March 31, said American is “well-positioned to take full advantage of our industry’s recovery” from the breakdown in travel brought about by the pandemic, “and now is the right time for a handoff we have planned and prepared for.”

Parker is the most recent CEO of a significant U.S. airline to declare his retirement this year. In June, Southwest Airlines Gary Kelly said he would step down, with longtime executive Robert Jordan dominating. Alaska Airlines CEO Brad Tilden was prevailed by Ben Minicucci in April.

Parker has spent two decades as an airline CEO since becoming the head of America West Airlines only days before the Sept. 11, 2001, fear attacks. The Phoenix carrier survived a downturn in travel with assistance from a federal loan.

In 2005, Parker engineered a merger with bigger yet bankrupt US Airways, and he repeated a similar system in December 2013 with American, which was simply arising out of bankruptcy protection. Parker enrolled the help of American labor unions to dump the bigger airline’s management after the consolidation.

American is led by a very close group of executives — including Isom — the greater part of whom have been along with Parker since their America West days.

Isom was already American’s chief operating officer and held a similar job under Parker at US Airways, where he was liable for further developing the airline’s on-time performance.

Isom came to American Airlines from US Airways, where he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operational Officer of the airline post-merger with America West. One of his key victories included pivoting the airline’s operational performance post-merger. Isom has likewise worked at America West and Northwest Airlines, where he additionally held senior roles.

At American Airlines, Isom was a key player in the integration of US Airways and American Airlines. He has likewise attempted to direct Americans through the emergency and the recovery. A few initiatives under his leadership have included fleet improvement and pushing for extra efficiencies.