American Airlines to open new operations center in Fort Worth

[BigMac]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/todayinthesky/2014/06/05/dallas-fort-worth-new-operations-center/9999289/

American Airlines plans to build a new operations center in Dallas-Fort Worth to oversee the daily operations of the merged new American.

American, which merged with US Airways, did not disclose the location in a letter to employees announcing the facility, the Dallas Morning News reports. The airline did say it would not be far from its headquarters near Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

The airline had announced it would close US Airways' operations center near Pittsburgh and combine the two airlines' centers.

Airline officials "looked into many options for the space required to combine our operations," American executives said in a letter to employees. "It became apparent that the best long-term solution is a new, state-of-the-art facility that can house all of our team members and the technology needed for our daily demands."

 

[AirLUVer]

Rumor has been floating around IOC for a while in regards to ways to cram everyone from SOC/MOC/OCC together.  Even with Envoy vacating the building, there was no feasible way to get everyone on the same floor in the AA center or the Pittsburgh OCC.  Evidently this could also free up enough real estate so that they may be able to consolidate all FA training in one location as well.

 

[eolesen]

Probably a good move to just start over with new construction. The current SOC building is approaching 25 years old, and definitely has issues...

During 9/11, the crisis center ran out of network ports, and didn't have wifi to accommodate all the laptop users. Fortunately the raised floor allowed for lots of renovations, but available floor space has always been the constraining factor.

 

[jimntx]

Maybe so, E. But, you know Delta did this so much better in their merger with Northwest. And, they had predicted the need for the floor space back in 1952; so there was no need to build a new building.

 

[AANOTOK]

So E, if I recall, you were/are anti merger/Parker...How is he doing so far? Just curious.

 

[eolesen]

I'm not anti-Parker. I just thought AA should have grown organically instead of getting into a merger.

Regardless, not enough time has passed to pass judgement. Ask me in about 20 months.

 

[AirwAr]

So E, if I recall, you were/are anti merger/Parker...How is he doing so far? Just curious.

 
In my un-solicited opinion...I'm not impressed.  These are people that were groomed to run the 10th largest airline...now running the largest.  They continue to think that size is everything.
 
After going through bankruptcy and right-sizing management, AA had a very strong management team in place and were well on the path to putting AA in the class with DL.  I would say the merger has put AA back at least 5 years.
 
I know there's a lot of AA employees out there that don't believe it, but we had some very smart people in place.  In reality, these were people we had always kind of hoped for...looking beyond just the numbers and trying to do the right thing, not just for customers...but employees as well.
 
It Horton would not have lost control...it would definitely have been a great ride.

 

[Mach85ER]

I surely don't know much beyond my observations on my way to get some tortilla soup during training, but my guess is that one motivation to build something new is the threat of storm/tornado damage shutting down the airline in a matter of minutes. The current SOC doesn't strike me as a good place to hide  with a Tejas twister rumbling northeast to the building.
 
I was in a sim session one day. No B.S., we were doing a windshear/thunderstorm takeoff profile which is a PIA and it even surpised me with the intensity of the background storm effects.
 
It was the same time the tornados whacked Fort Worth and the storm went over the simulator building.

 

[eolesen]

Supposedly the SOC was built to withstand a tornado -- that's why there are such small windows and they did the concrete slab walls (same as the sim building) instead of just the brick veneer that they have over at CP5 and the Learning Center.

 

[eolesen]

The location of the proposed new building is out... it will be between the current Flight Academy/SOC and the SRO, backing up to Highway 183. It will add a whole 300 yards or so of driving to the current commute for employees...

http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/2014/06/american-airlines-wants-tax-abatements-on-new-88-million-operations-center.html/

Asking for the tax break seems to be a given, and my guess is Fort Worth will give it, lest AA decide to go a half-mile down the road to the east and into the City of Irving and Dallas County, or north across the highway and into Euless...

 

[jimntx]

That's immediately west of the current facilities, isn't it?  Map reading is not my forte.

 

[texasreb]

I'm not anti-Parker. I just thought AA should have grown organically instead of getting into a merger.Regardless, not enough time has passed to pass judgement. Ask me in about 20 months.

I agree with E.

 

[Bogey]

The current SOC is not built to withstand a tornado. The windows are large and there are many. The new facility will be F3 hardened and have fewer windows overall.

 

[Ms Tree]

That's immediately west of the current facilities, isn't it?  Map reading is not my forte.

Yes.  If you look to the right of the red shade and see that bright white square, that is where the DC-3 is housed.  SOC is just below those 4 small white square buildings.