Robert Crandall

Robert Lloyd "Bob" Crandall (born December 6, 1935 Westerly, Rhode Island) is the former president and chairman of American Airlines. Called an industry legend by airline industry observers, Crandall has been the subject of several books and is a member of the Hall of Honor of the Conrad Hilton college.

Life

Robert Crandall was raised in Rhode Island.^{[citation needed]} He graduated from the University of Rhode Island, and from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, with an MBA.

In 1966, he joined TWA, where he worked for six years. In 1972, he left to become a senior financial officer at Bloomingdale's Department Stores, but he returned to the airline industry in 1973, as senior financial vice president of American.

Before the passing of the 1978 Airline Deregulation Act, Crandall was one of the act's loudest opponents. In 1982, he had a famous conversation with Braniff CEO Howard D. Putnam, in which he told Putnam that if Braniff raised their prices, American would too. Crandall has publicly expressed embarrassment over that conversation. 1982 was also the year that Crandall became American's president. In 1985, Crandall succeeded Albert Casey as American's chairman and CEO.

During the latter period of Crandall's tenure as CEO, investor concern over airline bankruptcies and falling stock prices caused Crandall to remind his employees about the dangers of investing in airline stocks. Known for his candor, Crandall later told an interviewer, "I've never invested in any airline. I'm an airline manager. I don't invest in airlines. And I always said to the employees of American, 'This is not an appropriate investment. It's a great place to work and it's a great company that does important work. But airlines are not an investment.'" Crandall noted that since the airline deregulation of the 1970s, some 150 airlines had gone out of business. "A lot of people came into the airline business. Most of them promptly exited, minus their money," he said.

In 1997, Crandall received the Horatio Alger award. In 1998, he retired from American and he went on to work as director of many other companies, including Celestica, Haliburton, and Anixter. He is the 2001 recipient of the Tony Jannus Award for outstanding leadership in the commercial aviation industry.

Crandall is credited with creating the first frequent flyer program in the airline industry, the AAdvantage program, as well as pioneering modern reservations systems through the creation of Sabre. He is also credited with pioneering yield management. Crandall also serves as a senior adviser and sits on the board of AirCell, an in-flight telephony company which won the larger of two licenses for air-ground data service that provide in-flight broadband service.

Op Ed

• Crandall, Robert (April 21, 2008). "Charge More, Merge Less, Fly Better". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/21/opinion/21crandall.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Charge%20More,%20Merge%20Less,%20Fly%20Better&st=cse. 

Honors

• Hall of Honor of the Conrad Hilton college.

Awards

• Horatio Alger award, 1997.
• Tony Jannus Award for outstanding leadership in the commercial aviation industry, 2001.
• L. Welch Pogue Award for Lifetime Achievement in Aviation, 2004.

External links

• "SOMETHING SPECIAL IN THE AIR?", PBS News Hour, May 20, 1998
• "WEBCAST: A CONVERSATION WITH ROBERT L. CRANDALL", DePaul University

Business positions
Preceded by Albert Casey	American Airlines CEO 1985–1998	Succeeded by Donald J. Carty