At a recent shareholder’s meeting Gerard Arpey, chairman and CEO of AMR Corp. said, “We are focused on doing what it takes to win a disproportionate share of the industry’s premium travelers. And one of the most powerful weapons at our disposal is AAdvantage, our award-winning recognition program.”

He also said that although American Airlines is a smaller airline today than a year ago because of reduced capacity brought on first by a high fuel bill and second by the financial crisis, “But it’s worth noting that while the combined Delta/Northwest has eclipsed us in total size, we remain larger when it comes to the top 30 domestic origin-and-destination markets–in other words, the markets that matter most.”

He said that American’s global network continues to expand, into China and India and other new markets like Barcelona, Madrid, Milan and Moscow. And regarding global alliances, he said,”The airline business today is evolving into a competition between the global alliances, and today we and our oneworld partners are at a significant disadvantage. By enabling us to coordinate our efforts, the joint business agreement we have reached with BA and Iberia will level the playing field as we battle it out with the Star and Sky Team alliances, both of which already enjoy broad antitrust immunity across the Atlantic.”