if AA surprises on the upside on revenue, it will be from a base of underperformance that has lasted quite some time.... at some point, you start lapping your own poor performance and the comparisons don't look as bad.
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It is also noteworthy that Spirit has announced five new routes from ORD/additional flying... all of which are on routes where AA is the dominant carrier except for MCO which is pretty much evenly split between AA and UA.
On top of VX's entry into ORD and DFW in key AA markets, AA leads the industry in low fare carrier new routes on existing core markets.
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AA's revenue performance will continue to trail the industry until it can stop the incursion of other carriers into key AA markets.