The corporate headquarters building is part of a $350 million expansion of the American Airlines campus in Fort Worth that was built in the 1950s.
The last of 5,600 American Airlines employees were finally allowed to move into the company’s new headquarters Monday.
After walking through security, they posed for photos in front of a scale replica of a 737 tail section and gazed up at a 50-foot ceiling meant to look like the turbine inside a jet engine.
Those same employees could also look up and see the cubicles of executives such as CEO Doug Parker and President Robert Isom — if they hadn’t been elsewhere Monday.
The shiny new headquarters building, called Skyview 8, is a bright spot for American Airlines after a tough year in which performance has suffered, the company’s stock price has plummeted and hundreds of cancellations are being blamed on an ongoing contract dispute with mechanics.
“It gives us a focal point, whether you work here or work in the operations center,” said Jonathan Pierce, director of campus, culture and change for American. “If you have a badge you can get into this building, whether you work here or in Portland, Ore.”
The corporate headquarters building is part of a $350 million expansion of the American Airlines campus in Fort Worth that was built in the 1950s. When the expansion is complete, the sprawling campus will have eight main sections that house about 12,000 of American’s 108,000 employees.
With Skyview 8 and an information technology building opening in October, seven of the main sections will be open.
The airline also plans to spend an additional $250 million on a hotel that’s set to open by the end of 2021.
To build the new headquarters facility, American extended its campus on DFW International Airport property to 300 acres. American has a 99-year ground lease on the land, and it got about $21.25 million in tax incentives from the city of Fort Worth for the expansion, including the IT center.
American Airlines is calling it the Robert L. Crandall Campus, an ode to the former CEO who led the airline from 1985 to 1998, an era of major growth for American.
Kirk Hotelling, American’s managing director for real estate, said the Skyview 8 building was designed to push different corporate employees closer together. There are no executive offices, and Parker sits in a cubicle like other employees, something he did at the old building as well.
Bike and walking paths wind through the campus, and parking lots are being torn up and replaced with picnic areas and even a softball and cricket field. Workers can bike past the training center where new flight attendants learn procedures, past construction sites where a new fitness and wellness center is planned and up to the doors of the Integrated Operations Center, where weather, routing, scheduling and other day-to-day operations employees work.
Skyview 8 houses most of the company’s corporate staff. It also serves as a gateway to the rest of the campus.
The first floor has a corporate shop, employee services and about a dozen restaurants ranging from sushi and tacos to coffee and salads. Artwork throughout gives a nod to employees, including a hanging display over the cafeteria that was made to look like jet contrails and was designed by employees at the Tulsa heavy maintenance base.
American Airlines corporate campus employees will continue to see some work for the next few years. The former flight attendant dormitory is being torn down and replaced with the hotel, where employees will stay while they are trained. There are also plans for a swimming pool, fitness facility and conference center.
The former American headquarters building across the freeway from the new facility will eventually have a new use, too. Entirely owned by American Airlines, the 1.4 million-square-foot building constructed in 1988 is up for lease.