Background
CRANDALL, Robert was born on December 6, 1935 in Westerly, Rhode Island, United States. Son of Lloyd Evans Crandall and Virginia (nbe Beard) Crandall.
CRANDALL, Robert was born on December 6, 1935 in Westerly, Rhode Island, United States. Son of Lloyd Evans Crandall and Virginia (nbe Beard) Crandall.
Student, College William and Mary, 1953-1955; Bachelor of Science, U. Rhode Island, 1957; Master of Business Administration, University of Pennsylvania, 1960.
The Great Depression forced Robert Crandall"s father to leave Rhode Island to work selling life insurance, which resulted in multiple relocations. Crandall ended attending 13 schools before his high school graduation. In 1966, he joined Trans World Airlines, 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 Acting, Crandall was one of the act"s loudest opponents. In 1982, he had a famous conversation with Braniff Chief Executive Officer Howard Doctorate. Putnam, in which he told Putnam that if Braniff raised their prices, American would too.
Crandall has publicly expressed embarrassment over that conversation. That same year, Crandall became American"s president
In 1985, Crandall succeeded Albert Casey as American"s chairman and Chief Executive Officer. During the latter period of Crandall"s tenure as Chief Executive Officer, 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.
lieutenant"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 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.
Since airline deregulation in 1978, a number of factors which define the airline industry in the United States of America have plummeted.
Subsequently, by 2010, every major airline had filed for bankruptcy at least once, except American Airlines. When asked to comment on the situation in June 2008, Crandall stated,
Finally, on November 29, 2011, The Automated Meter Reading Corporation (American Airlines Holding Company) joined the rest and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
In 2015, American Airlines completed a merger with United States Airways, the last remaining legacy carriers to do southern Hall of Honor of the Conrad Hilton college.
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.
Married Margaret Jan Schmults, July 6, 1957. Children: Mark William, Martha Conway, Stephen Michael.