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. and Trans World Airlines, LLC. The CEO is Gerard Arpey[?] and the chairman is Edward A. Brennan[?].
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.
American Airlines lost two aircrafts in the September_11,_2001_Terrorist_Attack including American Airlines flight 77 and American Airlines flight 11.
See Also: 2001 crash of American Airlines Flight 587
Sources:
Eagle by Robert J. Serling, published by St.Martin's/Marek in 1985.
International Directory of Company Histories St. James Press.
