American Airlines 1999 Annual Report Download - page 6

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FROM THE CHAIRMAN
invested billions of dollars in new aircraft, new and
refurbished ground facilities and a series of amenities
and enhancements that will enable us to capture and
sustain a position of product leadership.
We demonstrated network leadership with the inte-
gration of Reno Air and Business Express, the launch
of oneworld and alliances with a number of quality,
niche carriers that help round out our global presence.
Technology leadership, of course, has long been a
source of competitive advantage for American. And in
1999 that tradition continued with the successful
redesign of our industry-leading Web site, AA.com,
and our entry into other online ventures. Year over
year, revenue from online bookings increased nearly
200 percent. We also launched various technology ini-
tiatives intended to make our employees’ jobs simpler
and thus free them to provide more personal atten-
tion to the customer. Moreover, the advances in tech-
nology will be apparent to shareholders as we move
next year’s annual report to the World Wide Web.
Giving employees the tools they need to get the
job done is just one part of our plan to create a
people-focused culture. We launched a number of
positive initiatives aimed at cultural improvement,
from better compensation and benefits packages, to
new performance appraisal tools, to new employee
advisory groups designed to give everyone the chance
to help shape the company we all want to be.
Because these elements of airline leadership are so
critical to our future, we are intentionally kicking off
this year’s annual report with a retrospective look at
our company — which we think reveals that leader-
ship is deeply rooted in our culture and is a founda-
tion on which we can build for future generations.
And speaking of future generations, we
announced some important leadership changes at
American early in 2000. Robert W. Baker was
promoted to Vice Chairman, joining me in the newly
established Office of the Chairman. Gerard J. Arpey
was promoted to Executive Vice President-Operations,
4