Failure at AMR is due to inept management during challenging economic times, compounded by fallout from a national tragedy. Dragged down with a financially disastrous TWA purchase, unwilling to admit to and modify an obsolete business model, saddled with a clumsy and inefficient hub-and-spoke system, and stuck with enormous overhead costs for operating a grossly diverse aircraft fleet, AMR takes the easy road: attempting to extort the last drop of blood possible from its greatest asset, its employees.