August 12, Tracy Montross. American Airlines

Transcription

1 REPORTER August 12, 2014 Tracy Montross American Airlines Jill Santuccio introduced our speaker, Tracy Montross, American Airlines government affairs director. Tracy is originally from Vienna, Virginia. She is a graduate of Appalachian State University. Before receiving her Masters in Public Administration from UNC Charlotte, she worked in Washington, DC for Senator Max Baucus. Prior to working with American, Tracy worked for Freedom School Partners and was also chief of staff for then - Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx. Tracy spoke about the merger between American Airlines and US Airways which was completed December 9, Tracy began working for American shortly thereafter in January, The new American Airlines has approximately 100,000 employees with corporate headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas. The airline has 6,745 daily departures to 340 destinations in 57 countries. They have nine hub locations in Dallas/Fort Worth, Charlotte, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, Chicago O Hare, Washington DC, New York s John F. Kennedy Airport and Phoenix. Charlotte is the second largest hub for the merged airline. Tracy spoke of American s world class global network with destinations to Asia/Pacific, Canada, Mexico, Central America, South America, the Caribbean and Europe/Middle East. They now serve 192 cities in the world. American now has the industry s largest loyalty program with over 101 million members. They have 1,516 planes in their mainline and regional fleets. There are over 500 new planes on order. The merged airline will offer significant benefits for customers new features for passengers increased comfort and connectivity including, advanced in-seat inflight entertainment, inflight Wi-Fi connectivity and Main Cabin Extra seating. American s Cargo operations have hubs in New York s John F. Kennedy, Miami, Chicago O Hare, Los Angeles and Phoenix. Eighty percent of cargo is shipped internationally. In 2013, more than 800 million pounds of cargo and mail were moved. Tracy mentioned that American is the primary carrier for the United States Postal Service. Both the merged American and US Airways have joined the one world alliance which includes 14 airline partners from around the world. Within the next 18 to 24 months, the new airline plans to complete the Federal Aviation Administration s process for Single Operating Certificate. There are 10,600 employees in Charlotte, making American the seventh largest employer in the city. Most of those are fleet service, pilots, flight attendants, customer service agents and mechanics. Current lease negotiations with Charlotte are due to be completed in Tracy said that American appreciates its government partnerships with Charlotte City Council, City of Charlotte Aviation Department, Federal Aviation Administration, Customs and Border Protection and Transportation Security Administration. American also appreciates its partnership with the Charlotte community having invested nearly $10 million of time and philanthropic gifts in The company s route structure will be under review until at least late Tracy said that Charlotte Douglas is attractive to the airline

2 because the airport has some of the lowest costs for airlines of any major hub. In response to questions and answers, Tracy discussed two primary issues. First, she stated that the main lessons that American learned from other airline mergers was to have active employee participation from the very beginning and to really focus on information technology. Second, Tracy said that American is opposed to the half-cent sales tax which will be a referendum on the November ballot. They are sensitive to the potential business impact of increased taxation. She stated that aviation is overtaxed with 21% of each ticket going to federal taxes. She also mentioned that the fuel cap, which rebates fuel taxes to airlines paid over $2.5 million, is set to expire January, 2016 and hopes that the state legislature extends the rebate at that time. Currently some of our competitor states such as South Carolina, Texas, Ohio and Massachusetts have no tax on jet fuel. Written by: Jim Kelley MEETING PARTICIPANTS Head Table: Colleen Brannan, Roger Sarow, Tony Zeiss, Jill Santuccio, Neil Burkhead, Wes Jones; Invocation: Denise Hallett; Visitors & Guests: David Zimmerman; Health, Happiness & History: Chase Saunders; AV: Nikki Keith; Photos: Bert Voswinkel Club News Tom Bartholomy reports ten new members have been introduced, or are in queue to be introduced. A good way to expose your friends/co-workers to Rotary is to bring them as a guest; Quincy Foil presented an overview of the strategic plan for , which can be found at member login (user name: sandy; password: rotary) and you will see the link in the middle column; Katie Tyler thanked everyone for supporting The Rotary Foundation and announced her club goal is for everyone to donate to the Foundation. If you are a supporter consider increasing; if you have never supported start today. Roster Updates: Charlie Bones, Digital Benefit Advisors, cbones@digitalbenefitadvisors.com; Stephanie Hinrichs, shinrichs@wcsr.com; Hank Dongahy, hdonaghy@financialguide.com; Fae Shaffer, (office) 1216 E. 10 th St (28204); Joey Godbold, Sperry Van Ness/Percival Partners. UPCOMING BIRTHDAYS (8/18/14 8/25/14) 08/20 Carol Hardison 08/23 Bill Stegelmeyer 08/24 Quincy Foil 08/26 Bill Constangy; Henry Snead 08/27 Don Steger 08/31 Jessica Brasington UPCOMING ANNIVERSARIES (8/19/14 8/25/14) 08/18 Norva & Ed Pickett 08/24 Joan & Mark Erwin; Jenn Jackson & Andy Boswell 08/25 Laura & Fred Brown; Linda & Rex Welton 08/26 Sarah & Ben Dobson 08/27 Nanelle Napp & Chuck Cocke; Emmy Lou & Robert Burchette 08/28 Patricia & Brian Blais 08/30 Marilyn & Roger Sarow; Sallie & Dick Klingman 08/31 Blair & Jerry Bryson ATTENDANCE Visitors & Guests 11 Club Members 161 Total Attendance 172 Percentage 57.3%

3 MEMBERSHIP 08/12/ /01/ Net Increase: +1 New Members: Omar Kazzaz Resignations: VISITORS ON 8/12/14 Mahlek Pothemont, Wes Sturges, Ruth Samuelson, Susan Little Evans, Richard Barnes, Jeff Bromfield, Matthew Ridenhour, Herman Thomas, Katie Murdock, Bo Coggins UPCOMING LUNCHEONS ( and click on the events tab) 08/19/14 Sara Hayden & Cecy Ramirez, The Joe Martin ALS Foundation 08/26/14 Linda Hudson, CEO of The Cardea Group (retired CEO of BAE Systems) 09/02/14 Mike McGuire, CEO, Grant Thornton Global Photos from the Luncheon

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5 Photos from our luncheons and other events can be found on Flickr Click here charlotterotary.org Baxter Street Suite 118 Charlotte, NC USA The Rotary Club of Charlotte 2014