Brett Snyder interviewed Nat Pieper, American’s Chief Commercial Officer (and former oneworld CEO) as he approaches 100 days on his new job in Dallas. Here’s the eye opener:

They say the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. Nat does not have an issue with that, telling me bluntly, “we’re number three from a global airline in the US perspective.” Like many people who have been around the industry for a long time, this seemed hard for him to fathom.

And (emphasis mine):

Looking back to the beginning of his career, he had the same sentiment many of us did. “American was the gold standard.”

It’s a great read all the way through. Pieper outlines American’s strategy in the three most lucrative hubs, the airline’s operational tech problems (he sounds more worried about it than their operations chief did!), and the need for a premium product on both new and existing aircraft. There’s even some noncommittal in-flight entertainment talk.

More than any of those individual parts, it’s the sum of Pieper’s thoughts on the airline that makes this interview refreshing. We have heard variations of “we’re doing fine” out of American management for a while now. This is different.