Good morning, and thank you for joining us for the 2025 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of American Airlines Group Inc. I'm Greg Smith, Chairman of the Board, and the meeting is now called to order. Joining me today are members of the executive team and the board of directors, including our CEO, Robert Isom. We will start with some housekeeping items and then move to the official business of the meeting. After the conclusion of the formal business, we will answer questions. I would now like to introduce Tony Richmond, our Chief Legal Officer, who will serve as Secretary for this meeting. Tony?
Thanks, Greg. I will first go over a few housekeeping matters. Today's virtual meeting is a live webcast. Through the meeting page, you will find the agenda and rules of conduct. A representative of our Inspector of Elections is in attendance and has confirmed that a quorum is present. The polls open for voting today at 9:00 A.M. Central Time.
If you wish to vote at this meeting, you may do so by returning to the page you used to enter the meeting and clicking "Vote." Stockholders who have sent in a proxy or voted via telephone or internet and do not want to change their vote do not need to take any further action. Stockholders may ask questions in the designated field on the meeting page during the meeting. Out of consideration for others, please limit yourself to one question. We will respond to questions later in the meeting.
We will consolidate our responses where we have received multiple questions on a given topic, and answers to any relevant questions not addressed will be posted on our website following the meeting. The board established April 14, 2025, as the record date for determining stockholders entitled to vote at the meeting. An affidavit has been delivered attesting to the fact that the notice of the meeting was mailed commencing on April 28, 2025, to all stockholders as of the record date.
We have five proposals for this meeting: the election of 12 directors, the ratification of the appointment of KPMG LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for 2025, an advisory vote to approve the compensation of the company's named executive officers as disclosed in the proxy statement, a proposal to approve Amendment Number 1 to the Tax Benefit Preservation Plan, and a stockholder proposal requesting that the board consider ending the company's participation in the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index.
Each proposal is described in detail in our 2025 proxy statement, including the board's recommendation for each proposal. No other matters will be considered. I would like to introduce our director nominees who are in attendance at today's meeting: Adriane Brown, John Cahill, Matt Hart, Robert Isom, Sue Kronick, Marty Nesbitt, Denise O'Leary, Vicente Reynal, Greg Smith, Doug Steenland, and Howard Ungerleider.
Also joining this meeting is Stan Beaver from KPMG. Stan is the partner in charge of our 2025 audit. The next item of business is a stockholder proposal from the National Center for Public Policy Research, or NCPPR. We will now hear from Stefan Padfield, Executive Director and Representative of NCPPR, to present the proposal Mr. Padfield provided the company in advance in the following pre-recorded remarks.
My name is Stefan Padfield, and I am the Executive Director of the Free Enterprise Project, which is part of the National Center for Public Policy Research. The National Center is the proponent of Proposal 5, which asks American Airlines to consider ending the company's participation in the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index. As noted in our proposal, there are serious reasons to be concerned that the company's participation in HRC's CEI, to say nothing of its being a platinum partner of HRC, aligns the company with radical transgender activists promoting gender confusion in children, surgical and chemical transitioning of confused teens, elimination of girls and women's sports and bathrooms, and attacks on religious freedom. The associated financial risks to shareholders are obvious, which may explain why many name-brand companies have recently severed ties with HRC.
Relatedly, it may be worth noting that as of June 3, American Airlines has apparently underperformed the S&P 500 by roughly 35% year to date and roughly 75% the past three years. Can anyone say, "Go woke, go broke"? Critically, we are asking American Airlines to get back to neutral and stop taking sides in politicized culture wars. While we expect low voting support for this proposal, arguably due in large part to the influence of conflicted proxy advisors and asset managers who do not reflect the views of the company's true or ultimate owners, we nonetheless ask the board to adopt our proposal in accordance with its fiduciary duties. Drop HRC, or at the very least, demonstrate some modicum of good faith neutrality by adding participation in Alliance Defending Freedom's Viewpoint Diversity Score Business Index.
Thank you, Mr. Padfield. The company's response to the proposal can be found in our proxy statement. The time is 9:06 A.M. Central Time, and the polls are now closed. The Inspector of Elections has advised that a majority of votes previously cast have been voted for all of the director nominees listed in Proposal 1 and for Proposals 2, 3, and 4, and has advised further that the required approval threshold for Proposal 5 has not been met. We will announce final results in a Form 8-K filing with the SEC.
Thank you, Tony. This concludes the formal portion of our meeting, and the stockholders' meeting is now adjourned. We would now like to share a brief update on the business and answer questions. I'll turn it now over to Tony and Robert.
Thanks, Greg. I want to note that, as with most presentations, the following discussion will include forward-looking statements, and the company's actual results may differ materially from those discussed here. Additional information considering factors that could cause such a difference can be found in the company's annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024, and our most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended March 31, 2025. I would now like to bring in American CEO Robert Isom to share a brief update on the business. Robert?
Thank you, Tony, and good morning, everyone. It's a pleasure to be here today. I want to thank and acknowledge the American Airlines team for their outstanding work over the past year. We remain focused on safety, reliability, profitability, and accountability. Our team is working to build the best network, sharpen our focus on the customer experience, and further strengthen our leading travel rewards program while continuing to build on our operational momentum and re-engineer our business. We believe that if we execute on these priorities, American will be very well positioned for the future.
Thank you, Robert. Now we would like to address several stockholder questions. Please note that only questions germane to the meeting will be addressed. Any relevant questions we don't answer during the meeting will be posted on our Investor Relations page. Robert, we received questions from stockholders about American's performance relative to its network peers. What strategic initiatives are being implemented to generate revenue and improve profitability?
We remain focused on the long-term targets we outlined at our Investor Day last year, which include growing margins, generating sustainable free cash flow, and continuing to strengthen the balance sheet. To accomplish these goals, the company is actively working on the following priorities. First, operating with excellence and efficiently delivering a safe and reliable operation. Second, continuing to strengthen our network both organically and through our airline partnerships. Third, taking a fresh look at our product and service as we renew our focus on the customer experience. Next, expanding our partnership with Citi, which will allow us to grow and enhance AAdvantage and further strengthen our leading travel rewards and co-branded credit card program ecosystem, and finally, re-engineering the business to operate as efficiently and productively as possible.
All of these priorities, along with the restoration of our core sales and distribution initiatives, will allow us to deliver on our revenue potential and drive value in the future.
Robert, we've also received a few questions on our fleet. How does American feel about its current widebody fleet, and why doesn't the company operate any widebody Airbus aircraft?
We completed our fleet renewal in a very different economic environment than exists today, with lower aircraft costs, lower lease and interest rates, and during a time of OEM and supply chain stability. In addition, in recent years, we took further steps to improve our fleet by simplifying our mainline fleet types from nine to four. As a result, American operates a young, simplified fleet and has no required mainline retirements through the end of the decade. Our upcoming deliveries will support our ability to grow and improve the customer experience as we further invest in our product. We've started to accept delivery of our new Boeing 787-9s, and we will soon begin to retrofit our existing Boeing 777-300 fleet with our terrific new Flagship Suite seats.
While we don't operate any Airbus widebody aircraft, American is one of the largest Airbus operators in the world, and we have a substantial order for Airbus A321XLRs, which will be a fantastic addition to our fleet and network. With these and other initiatives, in the coming years, we plan to increase our long-haul international capable fleet from approximately 125 aircraft to approximately 200 aircraft.
Robert, our next question is about customer experience. How does American's customer experience compare to its peers? What are you doing to enhance the customer experience?
We know customers are choosing their airlines based on experience and premium products, and we want American to be the carrier of choice. That's why we established a new customer experience organization, a centralized, cohesive team that sits at the intersection of our commercial and operations organizations.
This team advocates for our customers, leading the strategy and implementation of initiatives to improve every part of the customer journey, from booking to the airport to the in-flight experience and customer feedback. The team has already rolled out several important initiatives. Beginning in January 2026, AAdvantage members will receive complimentary high-speed satellite Wi-Fi, thanks to a new sponsorship with AT&T. We're excited to be able to offer free high-speed satellite Wi-Fi on more aircraft than any other carrier, and it's a great way to demonstrate that we have renewed our focus on the customer experience.
Last week, our new Boeing 787-9 aircraft with state-of-the-art Flagship Suite seats officially entered service, and we look forward to the rollout of this product on our new Airbus A321XLR aircraft. These deliveries, along with the planned refresh of existing seats, are expected to grow American's lie-flat and Premium Economy seating by approximately 50% by the end of the decade. We've also announced an expanded plan for the new Terminal F at DFW, which is American's largest and most critical hub.
This investment will elevate the customer experience in a big way and provide customers with a fantastic new facility and state-of-the-art amenities. It gives DFW a clear path to become the largest airline hub in the world. We also have significant airport modernization projects underway and plan to add several other hubs, and we work to set up American and our partners and communities for future growth.
American has also led the way in introducing premium lounges and offers more premium lounges than any other U.S. carrier. We're committed to reinvigorating the customer experience throughout the travel journey, and we're excited to have opened our newest Flagship Lounge in Philadelphia in May. Finally, we've implemented several changes to improve our boarding process and introduced a redesigned mobile app to further enhance customer interactions and self-service options. We remain focused on elevating the travel experience, and we're excited about the improvements we have in store for our customers.
Robert, the next question is on capital returns to shareholders. How soon do you see the company getting back to substantial profitability and reinstituting dividend payments?
Over the past several years, the company has made significant strides in strengthening our balance sheet. In 2024, we successfully reduced our total debt by more than $15 billion from peak levels in mid-2021, achieving this milestone a full year ahead of our initial target. We remain committed to the goal of strengthening the balance sheet and have pulled forward our longer-term goal of total debt of less than $35 billion by the end of 2027.
We'll continue to make strategic investments in our business, our team, our customers, and at the same time, our modest aircraft capital expenditure outlook supports the potential for sustainable free cash flow generation. As we continue to progress on our balance sheet goals, our board of directors will thoroughly evaluate additional capital deployment opportunities, taking into account market and economic conditions, applicable legal requirements, and other relevant factors.
Thank you, Robert. That concludes the Q&A for the meeting.
Thanks, Tony. Before we close, the board and I would like to take a moment to acknowledge one of our directors, Mike Embler, who will be retiring from the board at the conclusion of the meeting. Mike has provided invaluable leadership and a broad perspective over his 11 years of distinguished service as a director on the board. With his deep experience in matters related to safety, capital and asset management, and financial and business strategy, Mike has been a valued advisor to our management team. We're thankful for his contributions, and we wish him the best in his next endeavors. I'd also like to thank our stockholders for attending today. We appreciate your continued support and the confidence you have placed in our board and team. The meeting is now closed.