On March 10, American Airlines chairman and CEO Doug Parker addressed financial analysts, investors and journalists regarding how his airline-the world's biggest-and the US airline industry would manage through the coming COVID-19 pandemic, which was still days away from hitting North America in a serious way. "The US airline industry will manage through this," Parker confidently told the J.P. Morgan Industrials Conference. "We have every intention of operating a robust capacity in 2021. American is prepared to handle a shock like this." American had, as of March 10, cut its summer capacity by 10% and planned to "accelerate" the retirement of older aircraft, Parker said. He noted that "not one [airline] CEO asked for government relief" when meeting with the Trump administration the previous week in Washington DC. Federal relief would not be needed, he asserted. There is "real demand" for air travel in the US, evidenced by a spike in bookings made when American had dropped fares in the last few days, Parker said. Since overseeing the merger of US Airways and American, Parker had been pushing for a longer-term view of the industry. Shocks will happen and US airlines are now able and prepared to push through them rather than seek a bailout or enter bankruptcy, Parker said. He emphasized that the US airline industry would emerge in a better condition than before the coronavirus outbreak because the industry would finally have proven that it has changed its financial fundamentals.
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