American Airlines keeps cancelling flights and its CEO is taking the heat

When American Airlines exited bankruptcy in 2013, its new boss vowed to trounce rivals within a few years. These days, those competitors are delivering the beating. American is underperforming Delta and United on profit margins and on-time arrivals. Investors are punishing American’s stock, sending the shares to the biggest decline this year among US transportation companies. And to add insult to injury, a plague of summertime flight cancellations has angered passengers and sullied American’s brand. It’s far from the outcome CEO Doug Parker envisioned when, as head of US Airways, he engineered a merger with American in a New York bankruptcy court and took the reins of the combined company. While Delta and United reap the rewards of a decade of airline consolidation and greater pricing power, American’s declining performance has solidified its status as the industry laggard. American is the year's worst performer among US transportation stocks. “I get the question, ‘At what point does the board say enough is enough and we need more drastic change?”’ said Jose Caiado, an analyst at Credit Suisse. “I get that question a lot these days.” The board hasn’t shown any signs of displeasure, Caiado said. But an 18% share drop this year through Aug. 30 gave American a market value of $11.7b, less than a third of Delta’s.<br/>