The Journal

Issue date: 3/29/01 Section: News

Media Credit: Sarah Jones TWA CEO William Compton speaks at the dean’s breakfast on Wednesday, March 21.

Media Credit: Sarah Jones Compton, facing camera on left, stands next to Webster University President Richard Meyers outside the UC Sunnen Lounge following Compton’s speech at a dean’s breakfast for the School of Business and Technology on Wednesday, March 21.

Media Credit: Sarah Jones Compton addresses the crowd.

The School of Business and Technology and the Dean’s Club offered its inaugural dean’s breakfast on Wednesday, March 21, at the UC Sunnen Lounge. Vice president and operating chief executive officer of Trans World Airlines (TWA) William Compton spoke to an audience of Webster administration, alumni, faculty and staff as well as members of the St. Louis community about the recent merger of TWA and American Airlines.
“It’s a home run for the competition, consumers and employees of TWA,” Compton said of the TWA/American Airlines merger.
American Airlines has “held out an olive branch” for the employees and executives of TWA, Compton said. American Airlines is taking care of TWA retirees, keeping planes and equipment up-to-date and maintaining TWA’s hub within the St. Louis community.
Before the merger, TWA had the oldest fleet in the country, Compton said, but American Airlines has provided new fleets and a greater number of competent pilots. TWA’s 20,000 employees have been made to feel welcome by the staff of American Airlines, and so far few, if any, TWA employees have lost their jobs.
Customers of TWA can still cash in on earned miles, but now those miles are worth more through American Airlines, Compton said. Prior to the merger, TWA served 100 airports, but now customers will have access to 175 airports throughout the world though the combined resources of TWA and American Airlines. The new arrangement will provide a strong presence in Asia and South America, and, as American Airlines is part of the Global Alliance, customers now have “seamless transportation.”
The merger was first announced on Jan. 10, and the deal could close by April 10, Compton said. American Airlines will operate TWA’s facilities separate from American Airline facilities for the first couple of years.
The American Airlines/TWA merger and other mergers have received criticism from the U.S. Congress, most notably from Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D. Officials of TWA, however, spoke with Missouri Sen. Jean Carnahan, who gave them her full support for the merger to continue unhindered.
Compton also gave a brief history of TWA, mentioning that renowned pilots Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart both flew for TWA. In 1929, TWA flew a plane coast-to-coast — the first airline to accomplish this feat. TWA began international commercial flights in 1946.
“A round-trip flight from New York to Paris cost $675 in 1946,” Compton said, “and now it costs $345. How many things do you know cost less now than they did in 1946?”
Benjamin Akande, dean of the School of Business, brought Compton to Webster as the first of several dean’s breakfasts to be offered throughout each academic year.
“Bill Compton cleaned up issues and questions lingering in the minds of the people of St. Louis,” Akande said. “American Airlines is bending over backward to accommodate TWA with compassion and understanding. It’s a win-win situation for both.
“TWA was on its death-bed, and the merger gave it a boost – a shot in the arm,” he said.
The dean’s breakfasts will “provide an opportunity for local experts to speak out about things that matter,” Akande said. “(The event) validates the entrepreneur spirit at Webster.”

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