In A Rare Moment, A Major Airline CEO Praises The Reporters Who Covered Him

The CEO of American Airlines is speaking at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The photo was taken by the person.

2020 is the year of Bloomberg Finance.

It was rare for a CEO to show emotion as he conducted his final earnings call.

He has been an intriguing CEO, his corporate leadership and financial strategies have been accompanied by earnestness and personal warmth.

Reporters are often derided. This is common in their most visible role, covering politics in a divided country. Watching White House reporters ask questions can be torturous. The subjects of their own coverage are many.

Most reporters are not like that. In the heavily covered airline industry, they gather information and report it. Reporters are rarely praised publicly by subjects of coverage.

In this case, the comments were touching.

The sell-side analysts and reporters were the first to receive a quick thank you. I've done my best to treat you with respect and to give you access to the community that you need to do your job well. You've all been very fair to me.

Three analysts, two reporters, and a Wall Street Journal reporter were named by the author.

He made it clear that he was only naming retirees. He didn't have to choose among people who are still working. The three reporters were respected by their peers.

At the end of the call, Dawn Gilbertson of USA Today asked the final question. Gilbertson covered hometown Phoenix airline America West for The Arizona Republic. The management team at America West was built through acquisitions and came to run the largest airline in the world.

Gilbertson asked about the wait times on calls to American reservations. Three executives gave answers before he spoke, but he said his last words as CEO.

He said, "Dawn, before you sign off, with everyone listening in, you would have absolutely been in my prepared remarks, but you're still on the line."

He noted that Gilbertson had covered America West. He said, "Of all the articles that have risen to the level that I have chosen to actually hang on to, more of them have a Dawn Gilbertson byline than anybody else."

It was poignant that he chose that moment to look back on how he started and on the reporter who was there when he did.

There is a long list of things Doug did wrong. There is more than one list of things he did right. His last earnings call was.