An American Airlines plane lands on the Miami International Airport on July 24, 2025 in Miami, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images
American Airlines has hired nearly three-decade industry veteran Nat Pieper to be its latest industrial chief because the carrier’s profits trail rivals Delta and United.
American ousted its former chief industrial officer, Vasu Raja, in 2024 after his business travel strategy backfired and sparked pushback from lucrative corporate travel agencies, while revenue projections dropped sharply.
Pieper, 56, has worked within the industry because the late Nineteen Nineties with experience at Northwest Airlines, Delta and Alaska Airlines. Most recently, he’s run the huge Oneworld airline alliance that features American, British Airways and others. His positions included high-level roles in network, alliances, fleet strategy and finance.
“He is strictly the form of leader we would like at American — collaborative and a fantastic people leader with a relentless deal with delivering results while keeping a watch to the long run,” American CEO Robert Isom said in a staff note, which was seen by CNBC.
Pieper told CNBC in an interview last month that airlines in Oneworld must do more to enhance technology to make travel more seamless for patrons, even after they’re moving between partner airlines, a touch of how he might improve technology while he’s at American.
He starts Nov. 3 and can oversee the Fort Value, Texas’ airline’s industrial strategy, loyalty program, network planning and revenue and sales departments, amongst others, American said.
