VANTAGEPOINT
THOMASW. HORTON
Chairman&CEO
AmericanAirlines
CHETSNEDDEN
TOMILLIONSOF
people around the world, Los
Angelesmeans “Hollywood.” But Los Angeles—
which is a cornerstonemarket of the American
Airlines network — is a lot more than the “en-
tertainment capital of the world.” L.A. County
boasts the planet’s third-largest metropolitan
economy, with a gross domestic product that
exceeds that of Belgium, Norway or Saudi Ara-
bia. The Los Angeles economy is as diverse as
it is large. Los Angeles is a hotbed of activity in
industries ranging fromhealth care toaerospace
to fashion. Youmight be surprised to learn that
therearemoremanufacturing jobs inL.A.County
than in theentirestateofMichigan.But thearea’s
biggest industry, asmeasuredbyemployment, is
international trade.Hundredsof thousandsof jobs
aresupportedby themovementofgoods through
Los Angeles/Long Beach Port (the largest port
in the U.S.), and of course through Los Angeles
International Airport (LAX).
American Airlines has been serving Los An-
geles since 1930. Our company iswoven into the
fabric of the community, and we are proud of
the rolewe have played in helping tomake Los
Angeles the economic force it is today. Last year,
American flewmore than 9.5million passengers
throughLAXandcontributedmore than$9billion
to the California economy. Still, we believe we
have only scratched the surface of what we can
achieve. Sowehavebeenbolsteringour strength
inLosAngeles inavarietyofways.
Last year we, alongwith our regional carrier
American Eagle, launched service to 10 newdes-
tinations out of LAX. As part of that growth, we
became the first U.S. airline to offer service be-
tweenLosAngelesandShanghai.With thesenew
services, we now operatemore than 150 flights
a day at LAX, with nonstop service to 41 desti-
nations in the U.S., Asia, Latin America, Mexico,
Canada and Europe. In Junewewill launch new
nonstop service between LAX andWashington
ReaganNational Airport, whichwill complement
our threeexistingdaily round-trip flightsbetween
LAXandWashingtonDulles InternationalAirport.
Of course, the global connectivity we pro-
vide extends beyond American and American
Eagle. With our fellow
one
world carriers, includ-
ing Cathay Pacific, JAL and Qantas across the
Pacific, LAN to Latin America, as well as British
Airways and Iberia across the Atlantic, we have
an unequaled set of partners at LAX. Together,
we provide LosAngeleswith a level of access to
theworld’smost importantmarkets that fewcities
anywhere canmatch. To illustrate, our partners
at Iberia recently launched new nonstop service
from Los Angeles to their hub inMadrid, where
you can connect tomore than 70 destinations
throughout Spainandelsewhere inEurope.
As we broaden our network out of L.A., we
are also investing tomake sure our product and
facilities remain industry-leading. Americanwas
the pioneer of transcontinental flying— offering
the firstnonstop flightsbetweenLosAngelesand
NewYorkwayback in 1959—andour leadership
in that important market continues to this day,
aswe offer 11 flights a day between L.A. and the
NewYorkarea.
WeareupgradingourLAX facilities inavariety
ofways, includinga$20million investment inour
American Eagle terminal. As youmay have no-
ticed,wehave redesigned theLAX ticketing lobby
inaway thatmakescheck-inwithourSelf-Service
machinesabreeze. Customerschecking luggage
nowonly have one stop tomakebefore heading
to thesecuritycheckpoint.Wehavealsocreateda
new ticketingareaclose to thesecuritycheckpoint
for our premium customers and frequent fliers.
While there is a lot more to L.A. than Holly-
wood, the glamour of the entertainment indus-
trywill alwaysmake the city an object of global
fascination. Like no other city, L.A. is practically
shorthand forbigdreams, adventureand romance.
Whileadmittedlybiased, I like to think that flying
embodiessomeof thosequalities too.Weconnect
theworld, and in so doing enable people to live
lives that wouldn’t have been possible not that
long ago.Wherever you areheaded today, what-
everdreamsyouarechasing, Iwant to thankyou
—onbehalfofeveryoneatAmericanAirlines— for
lettingusplayasupporting role.Haveagreat trip!
WeLoveL.A.
We’dlovetohearwhatyouthink
about our airlineandour employees.
Pleasewrite tous at
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APRIL 15, 2012
AA.COM/AMERICANWAY
