Airline Consultant Mike Boyd condemns AA Mgt for branding
Terry Maxon at the Dallas Morning News made a post about Mike Boyd responding to American Airlines’ rebranding and livery change. The short version is that Boyd was scathing in his criticism of American Airlines management for doing this now.
And it mirrors some of my own feelings posted earlier today.
If one considers the priorities just prior to and during bankruptcy, rebranding efforts should have been suspended upon entering into bankruptcy. I assure you millions of dollars were spent on it leading up to the unveiling of the new livery.
I do think AA needed rebranding ultimately but whether it got done today or a year from now wasn’t really important. Delivering a great customer service product is the priority right now.
From what I’ve been reading, AA has been working on the rebranding before the Chapter 11 filing. Apparently, the decision was made to devise a new livery about the time AA put in the large orders for narrowbody aircraft with Airbus and Boeing. That was in July of 2011, 4 months ahead of the bankruptcy filing.
Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if senior management starting discussing the merits of rebranding, when AA put in the initial order for 777-300s. That was January of 2011, 10 months ahead of the bankruptcy.
I’ve heard Mike Boyd comment on CNBC many times, and usually his comments are well-reasoned and correct. I think he’s completely wrong on this one.