If you hated the 1980s, then I have bad news for you. This new SkyGo tool I’m using has me diving deep into the weeds during that decade. Today, I want to do an ’80s review of the powerhouse that is (ahem, was) American Airlines. This is actually a two-parter, and today I’m going to start with what American did to strengthen its legacy positions. Next time we’ll talk about how the airline made strategic moves to grow.
The ’80s were a time of chaos. Deregulation had just gone into effect in 1978, and so it was all settling out in the 1980s. The industry that existed in 1980 was far more fragmented and messy than what was there in 1990. But through it all, American was the rock star. Sure, United had its moments, USAir came into its own, and Delta got bigger, but there was no airline that moved quite the way American did to secure positions and carve out domains during that decade. Today, thanks to Claude helping me with the visualizations, I want to take a journey through the evolution of American’s main stations in that era.
The charts you’ll see in the next two days are all laid out the same. The lines show the number of departures by airline while the dots are sized depending upon the number of destinations served by that airline from that location. Now, let’s do this.
Long, long ago… American was primarily a northeast to southwest airline. Its historical positions in both New York and Los Angeles are well-known, so why don’t we start there? In both these legacy hubs, American made moves, but these aren’t places where American needed to have a laser-like focus. It just needed to find ways to maintain and bolster its positions.
New York City (JFK + LaGuardia) by Airline (1980-1990)
OAG schedule data via SkyGo
Yes, this leaves out the PeoplExpress phenomenon over at Newark, but it can be (and has been) argued that these aren’t exactly the same markets. American’s focus was on this side of the Hudson.
Going into 1980, American had an enviable position that was behind only Eastern, but as the 1980s went on and American’s gaze strayed, it fell off. The competition was from the old guard with Eastern and TWA along with the newly-christened USAir. Pan Am made big moves, especially after acquiring National. And of course there was little New York Air which added some capacity at the bottom. But by the middle of the decade, American was done playing nice.
The airline bulked up. Eastern — deep in the death throes by the back half of the decade — fell off dramatically. USAir also made a run at the end of the decade, and it kept that position until the slot swap with Delta for Washington/National flying many years later. By 1990, American had regained its position, but it was now second only to Pan Am, an airline which would fail soon after. Of course, Delta picked that up and ran with it, but in 1990, American was well-positioned in New York.
LAX by Airline (1980-1990)
OAG schedule data via SkyGo
We’ve talked about LAX a lot lately, but in 1980, American was small compared to United, Western, and PSA. (And yes, Golden Gate West had a lot of departures but on tiny airplanes.) American was still very relevant and important because of its position in the high dollar markets like New York, but it let its overall position sag until the middle of the decade.
This market had a significant number of regional flights on independent airlines, but those airlines by the middle of the decade began to line up with bigger airlines to use their codes. And that is when we see a real realignment. For American, that meant bringing Wings West into the fold while Western (and then Delta) had SkyWest.
This was also a time for big mergers. Delta bought Western, USAir took out PSA, and American acquired AirCal. By the end of the decade, American was bigger and in the mix for the top spot. Delta was in the lead after that Western acquisition, but American and United were neck and neck for a close second place, much better than in 1980.
NYC and LAX were very busy markets that saw things shake out rapidly. American did not lose ground in the end, but these two markets were already falling behind American’s new and surging mid-continent hubs. Chicago/O’Hare and Dallas/Fort Worth were American’s #1 and #2 respectively. Let’s look at those.
Chicago/O’Hare by Airline (1980-1990)
OAG schedule data via SkyGo
Chicago may have been American’s biggest market, but United was still Chicago’s biggest airline in 1980. Many, many others were still relevant in the market, including Northwest, Republic, Delta, and TWA.
Early in the 1980s, United grew fast, and American tried to keep up but it fell behind. Meanwhile, everyone else abandoned the effort, realizing it was not worth it. Even a combined Northwest and Republic had less than even one of those airlines had on its own by the end of the decade. Delta dropped off, TWA went low, and only Continental made a brief rise when it was merged with PeopleExpress, New York Air, and Frontier in the late 1980s. That was short-lived.
By the end of the decade, American decided it needed to put the pedal to the metal. With a growing fleet of MD-80s, it had the right airplane to challenge United, and the airlines were in a virtual dead heat by the time 1990 rolled around.
Dallas/Fort Worth by Airline (1980-1990)
OAG schedule data via SkyGo
Today we think of DFW as American’s fortress, but it was far from that in 1980. In fact, American was smaller than Braniff, and Braniff was growing like a weed after deregulation. Of course, it was that chaotic growth that led to Braniff’s failure in 1982. It tried to come back to life as Braniff II, but it was never the same and just petered out, no longer a real threat.
Instead, when Braniff failed, it was Delta that saw the opportunity, and so it tried to match American’s torrid growth. Texas International had a similar-sized presence to Delta, but it quickly walked away, something that accelerated when it was merged into Continental in 1982.
By 1990, Delta had a real hub, but it was a far cry from what American had built. We all know in the end that Delta gave up, but at the time, American took this threat seriously and never hesitated.
These four markets made up four of American’s nine most important in 1990, but the other five were created almost out of thin air. I’ll talk about those next time.
