08 Jun 2022 American Airlines ‘Absolutely’ Considers Skin Color and Sex When Hiring Pilots

Shareholder Activists Call It “Insane” That Passenger Safety Comes Second to Woke Equity Agenda

Washington, D.C. – American Airlines CEO Doug Parker today confirmed that the company “absolutely” prioritizes immutable characteristics such as skin color, sex and sexual orientation when hiring pilots.

Ethan Peck

During the company’s annual shareholder meeting, held virtually, Free Enterprise Project (FEP) Associate Ethan Peck submitted this question to Parker:

American Airlines makes no secret of its commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI), especially as it pertains to hiring. Are these DEI policies also applied when hiring pilots?

Parker responded:

Oh, absolutely, of course. Both at the mainline and the regionals. And if anybody wants to see proof positive, take a look at a video we put out, “[Honoring a] Legacy of Firsts.” It’s on our website and in the newsroom. And it’ll show you the great work that we’re doing from a DEI perspective, especially with bringing black aviators to the business and then seeing their careers really, really prosper, especially at American.

The exchange can be heard here.

Scott Shepard

“Illegal discrimination is evil in all situations, and equity-based discrimination is still just discrimination. In picking pilots, it’s straight up insane,” FEP Director Scott Shepard said after the meeting. “In its eagerness to stay woke despite ever-growing evidence that woke leads to failure, American Airlines is endangering lives and trashing its reputation.”

“Competence ought to take precedence over uninteresting immutable characteristics when evaluating candidates for any positions,” Peck agreed. “It’s bigoted to think otherwise. But when it comes to pilots, it’s not just nondiscrimination, morality and productivity on the line; it’s passengers’ lives.”

FEP discussed DEI at length (pages 7-14) in this year’s edition of the Balancing the Boardroom guide.

Today’s meeting marks the 55th time that FEP has attended or attempted to attend so far in 2022. To schedule an interview with a member of the Free Enterprise Project on this or other issues, contact Judy Kent at (703) 477-7476.

Investors wishing to oppose race-based discrimination and other “woke” policies infiltrating Corporate America should download FEP’s 2022 editions of the Investor Value Voter Guide and the Balancing the Boardroom guide. Other action items for investors and non-investors alike can be found on FEP’s website.

Launched in 2007, the National Center’s Free Enterprise Project focuses on shareholder activism and the confluence of big government and big business. Over the past four years alone, FEP representatives have participated in over 100 shareholder meetings – advancing free-market ideals about health care, energy, taxes, subsidies, regulations, religious freedom, food policies, media bias, gun rights, workers’ rights and other important public policy issues. As the leading voice for conservative-minded investors, it annually files more than 90 percent of all right-of-center shareholder resolutions. Dozens of liberal organizations, however, annually file more than 95 percent of all policy-oriented shareholder resolutions and continue to exert undue influence over corporate America.

FEP activity has been covered by media outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Variety, the Associated Press, Bloomberg, Drudge Report, Business Insider, National Public Radio and SiriusXM. FEP’s work is prominently featured in Stephen Soukup’s new book The Dictatorship of Woke Capital: How Political Correctness Captured Big Business (Encounter Books) and Kimberley Strassel’s 2016 book The Intimidation Game: How the Left is Silencing Free Speech (Hachette Book Group).

The National Center for Public Policy Research, founded in 1982, is a non-partisan, free-market, independent conservative think-tank. Ninety-four percent of its support comes from individuals, less than four percent from foundations and less than two percent from corporations. It receives over 350,000 individual contributions a year from over 60,000 active recent contributors.

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