American Airlines Group Inc. plans this summer to meld key
computer systems from the two carriers that combined in its merger
17 months ago, as it works toward eliminating the US Airways brand
by the end of this year.
The company said in a letter to ticket sellers on Tuesday that
it would begin the transition as early as July, with the final
so-called cutover happening 90 days later, when flights with the US
Airways brand will end. That milestone would signal the company is
finished with the biggest parts of the integration kicked off by
the December 2013 merger between the former American and US Airways
to form the world's biggest airline.
Combining computer systems is historically one of the trickiest
points of airline mergers. Reservation systems are the digital
backbone of airlines, storing flight schedules, bookings and
millions of customer records. Folding one system into another is an
enormous and complex task that has led to passenger disruptions for
other airlines.
To mitigate risk, American merged frequent-flier programs as
part of a separate process in March, and the company is migrating
US Airways' reservation system onto American's larger system.
On Tuesday, the airline said it had another strategy to ease the
process: it will make the switch over a 90-day period--a so-called
drain down--rather than a single-night cutover like other airlines
have done in past mergers.
"The words drain down don't conjure up the most positive
imagery...but it is actually a lot better," said Maya Leibman,
American's chief information officer. "Being the last of the major
carriers to go through this, we've had a little bit of an advantage
to see how everybody else has approached it."
When American begins the transition this summer, it will start a
90-day clock for the remaining US Airways flights. Passengers who
go to US Airways' website during that period to book flights beyond
those 90 days will be redirected to American's website. Once the
final US Airways flight lands on the 90th day, workers will finish
transitioning the reservation systems. The next morning, all
kiosks, hotlines, websites and flights will be American-branded,
the company said.
Ms. Leibman said the 90-day process comes with risk: once the
carrier starts the 90-day clock, it is difficult to turn back.
American Chief Executive Doug Parker "has been pounding this
message of not being complacent," she said. "We have to be totally
paranoid and totally worried about every single thing that could
possibly go wrong."
Once American merges its reservation systems, it will still have
several major tasks in its integration. The carrier has reached
joint contracts with its pilots and flight attendants, but still
lacks combined accords for several other work groups representing a
total of more than 50,000 employees.
The carrier also has to merge its flight-operating systems,
which manage flight dispatch, maintenance, and other operations,
and are "every bit as critical as the reservation system," Ms.
Leibman said. The airline plans to merge those systems through 2016
and 2017--a task that customers likely won't notice.
Write to Jack Nicas at jack.nicas@wsj.com
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