American Airlines is backing away from a strategy that executives say drove away lucrative corporate customers and dragged down the airline’s revenue, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The airline had made drastic changes in the way it conducted business with its corporate customers following the pandemic and the slowdown in business travel that followed. The changes were an effort to draw travelers to book directly through American’s website or app—but it didn’t work, executives say.
While competitors Delta Air Lines and United Airlines credit business travel as a buoy for their companies, reporting roughly 14% increases in corporate travel revenue in the first quarter of the year, American has not seen the same boost in travel bookings.
