Earnings Call Transcript - AAL Q4 2023

Scott Long, VP of Investor Relations and Corporate Development

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to American Airlines Group's Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speakers’ presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. I would now like to hand the call over to Scott Long, VP of Investor Relations and Corporate Development. Please go ahead. Thank you, Latif. Good morning, and welcome to the American Airlines Group fourth quarter and full year 2023 earnings conference call. On the call with prepared remarks, we have our CEO, Robert Isom; and our CFO, Devon May. A number of our other senior executives are also in the room this morning for the Q&A session. Robert will start the call with an overview of our performance, and Devon will follow with details on the fourth quarter and full year, in addition to outlining our operating plans and outlook going forward. After our prepared remarks, we'll open the call for analyst questions, followed by questions from the media. To get in as many questions as possible, please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. Before we begin today, we must state that today's call contains forward-looking statements, including statements concerning future revenues, costs, forecasts of capacity and fleet plans. These statements represent our predictions and expectations of future events, but numerous risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ from those projected. Information about some of these risks and uncertainties can be found in our earnings press release that was issued this morning, as well as our Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2023. In addition, we'll be discussing certain non-GAAP financial measures this morning, which exclude the impact of unusual items. A reconciliation of those numbers to the GAAP financial measures is included in the earnings press release, which can be found in the Investor Relations section of our website. A webcast of this call will also be archived on our website. The information we're giving you on the call this morning is as of today's date, and we undertake no obligation to update the information subsequently. Thank you for your interest and for joining us this morning. And with that, I will turn the call over to our CEO, Robert Isom.

Robert Isom, CEO

Thanks, Scott, and good morning, everyone. Today, American reported an adjusted pretax profit of $257 million for the fourth quarter and approximately $2.5 billion for the full year, driven by the strength of our network, continued demand for our product, and fantastic execution by our team. I want to thank the American Airlines team for their incredible work to care for our customers and deliver a 2023 that we're proud of. We're running a historically strong operation, driving incremental revenue through our commercial initiatives, managing our costs, producing record free cash flow, and strengthening our balance sheet through debt reduction. This year, we'll continue to prioritize reliability, profitability, and accountability, while building an even more efficient and resilient airline. We also remain focused on taking care of our team and continue to make progress on our labor agreements. Our commitment in negotiations has been consistent: reach deals as quickly as possible and ensure our team is paid as well as their industry peers. We finalized a new contract with the APA in the third quarter last year. And a few weeks ago, we did the same for our customer service team, represented by the CWA-IBT, giving team members increased pay and quality of life improvements. We continue to negotiate with the APSA with the shared goal of reaching a deal that will pay our flight attendants at the top of the industry. Now, let's talk more about our financial results. We produced record full-year revenues of approximately $53 billion, driven by strong demand for our product and record revenue from our travel rewards program. Demand remains strong, and we've seen robust bookings to start the year as travel trends have begun to normalize across entities. We're also very encouraged by the trends we're seeing in business travel. Domestic revenues from business travel ended the fourth quarter at approximately 90% of 2019 levels. We're excited about the continued rollout of the AAdvantage Business program, and we continue to see strength among small and medium-sized businesses. We see further potential revenue upside as we restore our hubs domestically, enabled in part by the recovery and regional supportability. This year, we expect our system capacity growth to be balanced between domestic and international. More than ever, our revenue growth is fueled by a growing number of AAdvantage customers who acquired our co-brand credit cards in record numbers in 2023. AAdvantage customers represent both our greatest source of value and greatest opportunity going forward. In 2023, two-thirds of our revenue came from AAdvantage customers. These customers also account for 70% of our upsell, loyalty, and partnership revenue. Over the past year, we have made changes to our distribution strategy to give customers direct, improved access to our best products and enable American to provide better customer service to the individual traveler. We're very encouraged by the results. Customers who shop directly with us have a more enjoyable experience and are 11 points more likely to recommend American than those shopping in traditional outlets. They're purchasing more valuable content and doing so at lower expense. In 2023, our revenue was 15% higher than 2019, while our selling expenses were 10% lower. Our fleet, network, and travel rewards program will continue to drive significant value moving forward. And our limited near-term capital requirements will position us to continue to generate free cash flow. Turning now to the operation. The American Airlines team continues to achieve industry-leading operational results. We produced our best ever performance in the fourth quarter and over the full year, including our record on-time departure rate and completion factor during the busy holiday season. American ranked first among the U.S. network carriers in mainline and regional completion factor in 2023, with our lowest number of cancellations for any year since the merger. All of this led to record likelihood to recommend scores in the fourth quarter and full year. No network airline has operated more reliably than American over the past year and a half. We're running the best operation in our history, thanks to our focus on operational excellence and strong collaboration across the entire organization. We will continue to build on that performance and deliver exceptional service for our customers. Now, I will turn it over to Devon to share more about our fourth quarter and full year financial results and outlook for the rest of the year.

Devon May, CFO

Thank you, Robert, and thank you to the American Airlines team for continuing to produce outstanding results. In the fourth quarter and for the full year, we delivered a fantastic operation for our customers. We took further action to strengthen our balance sheet. And early this year, we finalized a new contract for our customer service team members. In the fourth quarter, excluding net special items, we reported net income of $192 million or adjusted earnings per diluted share of $0.29, and earnings results above our guidance for the quarter, driven by strong operational performance and better ex-fuel unit cost performance. For the full year, we delivered on our stated objectives and produced results in line with the guidance we provided last January, including on-capacity production, unit revenue, CASMx and earnings per share. Excluding net special items, we generated full year net income of $1.9 billion, or adjusted earnings per diluted share of $2.65. And importantly, for the full year, we generated free cash flow of $1.8 billion. In 2023, American produced record revenue of approximately $53 billion. We generated an adjusted EBITDAR margin of 14.5%, and an adjusted operating margin of 7.6%. In the fourth quarter, revenue was more than $13 billion. Our adjusted EBITDAR margin was 12%, and we produced an adjusted operating margin of 5.1%. Our strong operational performance in the fourth quarter resulted in capacity that was 5.8% higher year-over-year, slightly above the midpoint of our guidance range. Unit revenue for the quarter was in line with the midpoint of our previous guidance, down 6.4% year-over-year. Unit cost, excluding net special items and fuel, was up 4.2% year-over-year, nearly 1 point better than the low end of our prior guidance range. This outcome was driven in part by the strength of our operation, resulting in more capacity, lower overtime and premium pay, and lower interrupted trip expense. Turning now to our fleet. We have modest aircraft CapEx requirements this decade due to the fleet investments we made over the past decade. In 2023, we took delivery of 23 new mainline aircraft. This year, we expect to take delivery of 28 new mainline aircraft, including 20 737 MAX 8, six 787-9, and two A321neo aircraft. Our 2024 aircraft CapEx is expected to be approximately $2.3 billion, and our 2024 non-aircraft CapEx is expected to be approximately $850 million. We continue to have discussions with manufacturers for additional aircraft to deliver later this decade and into the 2030s. Due to the young age of our fleet, we have very modest aircraft replacement needs. As a result, we expect aircraft capex to average less than $3.5 billion per year from 2025 through 2030. A relatively low capital requirement, along with our free cash flow production, has allowed for significant progress in strengthening the balance sheet. We have now reduced total debt by approximately $11.4 billion from peak levels in 2021. And by the end of this year, we expect to have reduced total debt by approximately $13 billion from peak levels in 2021, which is over 85% of the way towards our $15 billion total debt reduction goal. Now onto the outlook for 2024. Our focus this year will be to continue to deliver industry-leading reliability and to reengineer our business to ensure we run the airline as efficiently as possible while enhancing the customer experience. This year, we'll finally be producing more capacity than we did in 2019. Consistent with our prior expectations, we plan to grow capacity mid-single digits year-over-year in 2024. This growth will be enabled by improved asset utilization and new aircraft deliveries. Based on current assumptions, we expect full year TRASM to be flat to down 3% year-over-year. For the full year, we expect CASMx to be up approximately 0.5% to 3.5% versus 2023. This unit cost guidance reflects approximately 2.5 points of year-over-year CASMx pressure due to collective bargaining agreements ratified in 2023 and early 2024, and anticipated agreement with our flight attendants in 2024. Our ability to achieve this full year unit cost result is due to our focus on operating more efficiently and improving our asset utilization. In 2024, we expect aircraft utilization to be up 2% to 4%, and we expect to deliver approximately $400 million in cost savings through the use of digital solutions, reengineering processes, and transforming procurement. We have spent the last 18 months sizing the opportunity and developing plans to reengineer our business to be more productive, while improving the customer and team member experience. We are excited about the early results, and we will spend more time discussing these opportunities in greater detail at our upcoming Investor Day. This year, we expect to produce adjusted earnings per diluted share of between $2.25 and $3.25. Using the midpoint of that guidance, we are forecasting free cash flow production of over $2 billion. Looking at the first quarter, we expect TRASM to be down approximately 3.5% to 5.5% on 6.5% to 8.5% more capacity year-over-year. We expect first quarter CASMx to be up approximately 2% to 4% year-over-year. Recall that we did not have the cost impact of our new pilot agreement accrued in the first quarter of 2023. Our year-over-year CASMx performance improved throughout the year as we lap the pilot agreement increases. Our current forecast for the first quarter assumes a fuel price of between $2.65 and $2.85 per gallon. Based on our current demand assumptions and fuel price forecast, we expect to produce an adjusted operating margin of between 0% and 2% in the first quarter, and an adjusted loss per share between $0.15 and $0.35. We are pleased with the progress the American Airlines team has made in 2023, and we remain focused on delivering results to unlock additional value in 2024 and beyond. Now back to Robert for closing remarks.

Robert Isom, CEO

Thanks, Devon. The American Airlines team continues to produce outstanding operational and financial results. When I moved into the CEO role two years ago, we made a commitment to be reliable and profitable, and we have delivered in a big way. We made it clear to all of you what we were going to do, and our team made it happen. Moving forward, we will continue to execute on our plans and control what we can control. Our team has done tremendous work, but there is much more in front of us as we continue to leverage our fleet and our network and build on our operational momentum. We see significant opportunities to reengineer the business to build a more efficient airline. All of this will enable us to generate sustainable free cash flow. We look forward to sharing much more at our Investor Day on March 4th. And now, operator, please open the line for analyst questions.

Operator, Operator

The first question comes from Michael Linenberg of Deutsche Bank.

Michael Linenberg, Analyst

Hey. Thanks. Good morning, everyone. I guess sort of a two-part question to involve Latin America too, I guess, Vasu. December quarter, it did look like that, that was the geography that underperformed, and I know some have called out that that's going to be a challenging geography in the March quarter as well. Obviously, it's a region that you're very strong in. I believe last quarter, Vasu, you did indicate that you were sort of going to add even more capacity into the region. There were markets that maybe were working there. Can you differentiate between near international beach markets and maybe Latin America long haul? Is there a distinction? One's outperforming the other. Any color on that? And then I have a quick follow-up related to the region as well. Thank you.

Vasu Raja, CRO

Absolutely, Mike. That's a great question. There are two things to clarify. First, there's a distinction between what we call short haul and long haul in Latin America, and also the difference between year-over-year RASM and marginal profitability. I'll address the latter first. In December, we operated our largest schedule ever in Miami, with a significant portion going to Latin America. This also marked the most profitable period for our Miami hub. We have managed to enhance efficiency across South America. Although we are experiencing some challenging near-term revenue trends, it's crucial to note that these are temporary, both in the short and long term. As we approach Q1, we anticipate that the entire short-haul business, including domestic and short-haul Latin markets, will turn positive by the end of Q1. Therefore, we view these challenges as primarily short-lived. Additionally, in the long-haul market, we expect to see improving trends as the year progresses.

Michael Linenberg, Analyst

Okay. Great. And then just my second on Latin America. Your partner down in Brazil, looks like they may potentially file for bankruptcy. When I think about your CapEx and investments for 2024, are you including in that some potential additional investment in GOL or is that a TBD or maybe that's not even on the table? How should we think about that and your relationship there?

Vasu Raja, CRO

Hey, Mike. There's probably a lot about this that we're not going to quite answer yet, but at least, let me offer this. First, foremost and always, our partnership with GOL is a commercial partnership, and we benefit them tremendously through our network, our AAdvantage program, and our customer base. We're a massive source of value for them. And whatever course of action they choose to take, that will hold true. And the last thing I'll say is that really for our customers, that no matter what might happen in the region, we see no compromise to our network connectivity, the quality of service, or whatever else might be the case. So, we're prepared for all eventualities, but our partnerships are first and foremost commercial partnerships.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Scott Group of Wolfe Research.

Scott Group, Analyst

Hey. Thanks. Good morning. So, overall, we've seen some of the other airlines so far guide to positive RASM this year. How come you guys are so flat? You guys are flat to down on RASM. Any thoughts that explains the difference between what you're guiding to and maybe what some of the others are saying?

Robert Isom, CEO

Thanks, Scott. Hey, look, we see, obviously, a tremendous demand. But we build our plan based on what we think is going to happen. Now that said, if other carriers are actually seeing that kind of benefit, it's going to accrue to American as well. And so I have no doubt that if there are adjustments to our assumptions based on any reason, whether that be capacity or demand that, look, we're going to be the beneficiaries as well as for overall economic performance in the U.S.

Devon May, CFO

Yeah. And, Scott, I'll only add, our focus in this company is margin performance. And there is so much that can change as you get out into Q3 or Q4. But as we see it right now, as the year has started, we are intaking revenues at the same growth rate that our capacity is coming in. As I mentioned earlier, we will exit Q1 as we anticipated with positive year-over-year RASM in our domestic and short-haul business. And we expect a lot of the same strength in international RASMs to continue. But first and always, we are margin focused.

Scott Group, Analyst

So, just to clarify, in your RASM guide for Q1, you're expecting domestic RASM to become positive by the end of the quarter, correct?

Devon May, CFO

Correct.

Scott Group, Analyst

Okay. I just want to clarify that the full year guidance does include expectations for a flight attendant deal.

Robert Isom, CEO

Yes. It does have an assumed flight attendant deal.

Scott Group, Analyst

Okay. All right. Thank you, guys. Appreciate the time.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Catherine O'Brien of Goldman Sachs. Your question, please, Catherine?

Catherine O'Brien, Analyst

Hey. Good morning, team. Maybe one for Devon first. Congrats on the progress towards your total debt goal. It seems like that's tracking ahead of schedule. What's the right debt reduction target we should be thinking about for 2024 with over $2 billion in free cash flow currently expected? I'm sure we'll hear more in March, but any high level thoughts on where you want leverage to go in the short term? And what's the appropriate long-term level of net debt or EBITDAR, or whatever your preferred metric is? Thanks so much.

Devon May, CFO

Hey. Thanks for the question, Catie. We are pretty focused on the next 24 months right now. So as we mentioned in the prepared remarks, we expect total debt reduction to be down $13 billion by the end of 2024, so about $1.5 billion improvement from where we were at, at the end of 2023. We still have a target for $15 billion of total debt reduction by the end of 2025. So, we're really proud of the progress we have made over the last couple of years. Also, really proud of the progress we've made in smoothing out our debt towers going forward. At the start of 2023, we had over $9 billion of debt due in 2025. Through debt paydown and some refinancings, we have significantly smoothed that tower and we feel really good about where we're at now. Still feel great about the $15 billion total debt reduction target. And yeah, as we get to the Investor Day in March, we'll talk a lot more about our longer term goals for the balance sheet.

Catherine O'Brien, Analyst

Got it. And then maybe, if I could just dig in a little more with you, Vasu, on how you expect the different regions to perform underlying that 1Q unit revenue guide of down 3.5% to 5.5%. Understand, what you already told us about short haul and domestic turning positive by the end of the quarter, but would love to just kind of run through Transatlantic, LatAm, Asia-Pac, domestic with whatever details you can provide. Thanks so much.

Vasu Raja, CRO

Sure, happy to. We expect the domestic system to show positive growth by the end of the quarter. A significant portion of our capacity is focused on the short-haul market. In the first quarter, over 75% of our available seat miles will be in domestic and short-haul Caribbean markets, which has a substantial impact on our performance. We anticipate ending the first quarter with revenue per available seat mile in those regions turning positive. For long-haul, we expect a relatively flat performance year-over-year for Transatlantic routes, with Transpacific and long-haul Latin routes also remaining flat to slightly down compared to last year. However, we are seeing improving trends across all these segments. As we introduce more capacity changes in March and beyond, we expect to see those numbers shift. Currently, we are more optimistic about short-haul performance than any other region.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Jamie Baker of J.P. Morgan Securities. Please go ahead, Jamie.

Jamie Baker, Analyst

Hey. Good morning, everybody. A couple for Vasu. First, the dead horse question. I know you're not going to give specific guides on geographic profitability. But as we think about the Northeast Alliance unwind and considering demand, seasonality, what quarter do you anticipate the maximum pain from the unwind being experienced and perhaps that's behind us in your models. At what point are New York and Boston the largest drag or the least contributing, however, you want to think about it?

Vasu Raja, CRO

Well, Jamie, the most challenging times are behind us. That occurred in Q3. Specifically, the New York marketplace and customer base have evolved in the post-pandemic environment. Our slot portfolio now serves this market much more effectively. We are seeing improved performance in New York, and the partnerships we established there will drive continued growth in originations share. New York has become our largest market for attracting new customers, both in AAdvantage and in the credit card segment, which was not the case prior to the NEA. We are definitely open to any partnerships that benefit our customers. However, as things stand now, the toughest times are indeed behind us.

Jamie Baker, Analyst

Perfect. And then on corporate recovery. In the past, you and I, I mean, we've all spoken about blended travel and the network and pricing changes that you've made to take advantage of that phenomenon. When we think about what you are seeing today in terms of corporate recovery, though, is it robust enough that you need to make further adjustments or is it simply incremental yield without any cost or effort?

Vasu Raja, CRO

It's a great question that highlights our distribution strategy. All of our changes, whether related to corporate travel management or travel agencies, are straightforward: we sell our product online, as that's what our customers want. This approach allows us to provide the best content at the lowest cost to them while enhancing service quality, and we've seen positive results. Our revenue has increased by 15%, and our selling expenses have decreased by 8% to 9%. Additionally, our likelihood to recommend scores have risen. Notably, 65% of our revenue now comes from AAdvantage customers, with about 45% of that revenue being generated from customers purchasing premium content. This segment has seen a 3-point year-over-year increase. Furthermore, we exited Q4 with a 90% recovery in business, where unmanaged business has fully recovered while managed business has declined slightly. The managed business impact has been stable despite fluctuations in traffic and higher yields. Moving forward, we plan to simplify the process for our customers to access content online by offering more mileage incentives for internet purchases and enhancing servicing capabilities for online distribution. We will also begin to limit our selling and servicing through non-internet channels and encourage travel managers and agencies to join us in this strategy, which benefits customers and should be mutually advantageous. We are optimistic about the progress we've made, and our revenue per available seat mile performance has remained stable since the pandemic. Looking ahead, we have the opportunity to further optimize our operations.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of David Vernon of Bernstein.

David Vernon, Analyst

Hey. Good morning, guys. So on the topic of sort of premium and how the buy-ops are affecting the business right now. Can you give us some sort of color around how premium product sales or movements up and down the fare ladder happening, growth in basic, growth in premium? Just give us some sense of kind of where you are in that process of tapping into what is a more lucrative segment of revenue?

Vasu Raja, CRO

Thank you, David. This is Vasu, and I'll continue from where I left off. I want to share a point that helps clarify our focus on selling and creating more content for AAdvantage customers. Currently, about 7% of our sales are from basic economy, which has increased by 20% year-over-year. However, this increase is primarily due to changes we made to the product. Last year, we included it in commission dealings and corporate travel management programs, but we removed it. This year, we reintroduced it. The more interesting aspect is that 10% of our revenue comes from customers who look for basic options but ultimately purchase something at a higher tier. This figure is up 25% year-over-year, with almost all growth coming from our website and app. We are increasingly finding that customers initially seeking a basic product desire more, and we can provide that. This is why we view our distribution strategies not as risky, but as a significant opportunity.

David Vernon, Analyst

Okay. And then maybe just as a quick follow up. As you think about some of the rationalization of the negative margin or lower margin capacity that's being contemplated out in the industry, how should we be thinking about the impact of, let's say, an unbundled operator pulling in capacity on your fare ladder? Is that sort of uniform impact up and down the different fare classes or is it more concentrated in something like a basic product? Anything you could tell us for, help us to understand how some of the capacity changes in the market might impact American would be really helpful.

Vasu Raja, CRO

Overall, as Robert mentioned earlier, like all businesses driven by supply and demand, a decrease in supply will clearly affect demand. However, for us, particularly with our basic fare products, we ensure that our offerings are appealing enough for customers to want to purchase. The aim of these products is to provide a positive travel experience and encourage customers to join AAdvantage. Our basic economy fare serves as an entry-level option that allows customers to engage with AAdvantage.

Robert Isom, CEO

Hey, David. I just want to add one other thing here, which is, we've built technology to enable us to react to whatever may come our way. So as Vasu has said that, look, our goal is to make sure that we can deliver a product to the customers the way they want to receive it. It also has to be done in a way that is incredibly nimble and can be changed. And in the past you may have seen carriers, even American, unable to react very quickly. That's not the case right now. So whatever happens in the marketplace, we've got the technology, we've got the product to be super competitive and whether it's us developing it on our own or having to compete, we'll be ready.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Conor Cunningham of Melius Research. Please go ahead, Conor.

Conor Cunningham, Analyst

Hi, everyone. Can you hear me?

Scott Long, VP of Investor Relations and Corporate Development

We've got you, Conor. Go ahead.

Conor Cunningham, Analyst

Thanks. Sorry about that. Just in terms of headcount for 2024, we haven't heard a lot about that from you guys. From the industry standpoint, it's obviously slowing. But what do you need to add this year to kind of hit your 2024 trajectory in terms of capacity and maybe beyond that? Thank you.

Devon May, CFO

Yeah. For this year, it certainly is a lot less higher than what we've done in the past. We are going to be bringing on about 1% more headcount. So, we'll call it somewhere around 1,000 or 2,000 more heads this year, but a big reduction from where we are last year. And it's just a sign of where we're at with efficiencies as well. We've probably hired a head a little bit in 2023, but this year we're looking to grow the airline mid-single digits and headcount is going to grow by about 1%.

Conor Cunningham, Analyst

Okay. Perfect. We haven't actually heard a lot about maintenance headwinds from you guys, and that's been like a major theme from a lot of the other carriers. So just are you seeing any meaningful call out into 2024, and then what are you guys doing specifically to mitigate a lot of those headwinds? I realize that it grew a lot last year. But is that kind of normalized going forward? Thank you.

Devon May, CFO

Yeah. I'll start and just maybe talk about where the P&L has been and then turn it over to Robert, to David. But we did have some headwinds in 2023, I want to say our maintenance expense in 2023 versus 2022 was up something close to $0.5 billion. This year flattens out a bit. We do expect it to be up. And it's one of the areas of the P&L where we'll have a little bit of variability just depending on how many in-house engine overhauls that we end up doing this year. But '23 was a big step up, '24 is less so. And there is a lot of great work being done on David's team to address as well. Hand it over to them.

Robert Isom, CEO

Yeah. So, I'll just start, Conor. I think one of the things that I look at is that maintenance needs for the industry as a whole are going to increase greatly. American is really well positioned, not only because of what we've done over the past decade by bringing in more new aircraft than anyone, but as well remember that we have maintenance capabilities where we're not solely dependent on outside resources that are going to be incredibly constrained. So one of the things that I know David can talk to us about is that we're going to make sure that we have even more capacity to do engine overhauls. We already have 12,000 mechanics, more than anybody else in commercial aviation, and we're going to put them to good use. And I think that that's going to be even more of a strategic advantage for American as we take a look at a really constrained resource. David?

David Seymour, COO

Yeah, Robert. Yeah, there's a lot of effort both what Robert and Devin talked about is that a lot of focus here and we have these normal waves that we run into with maintenance cycles that we have on heavy checks and engine checks that we got to do. But a lot of emphasis this past year and going into 2024 of getting a lot more efficient at how we manage that maintenance. As Robert talked about, we have really good control with longer-term resources to get that work done. So, we're very confident that we're going to be able to get the efficiencies and reduce some of that cost here in the near future.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Daniel McKenzie of Seaport Global. Your question, please, Daniel?

Daniel McKenzie, Analyst

Hey. Thanks. Good morning, guys. My two questions are on technology as well here. So, 65% of the bookings going to 100% on aa.com. What percent or portion of the revenue does this represent today and what percent of the revenue was up 15%, exactly?

Devon May, CFO

What I would say is 65% of our bookings are going through our digital channels. On a revenue basis, it's actually a little bit north of that. It's probably a little closer to 70% as we're intaking. And those are our revenue intakes that are coming in. Separately from that, when we go, look back at 2023, 60% of our revenue came from customers buying premium content, which is a premium seat or greater flexibility around the premium seat. Of those, 15% of our total customer base is non-AAdvantage. About 45% is AAdvantage.

Daniel McKenzie, Analyst

Yeah. Thanks a lot. That's helpful. And then the second question is really a bigger longer-term question on potential cost savings and it relates to the transition to the cloud. I'm wondering where American is at with respect to that transition and what kind of cost savings that could ultimately represent on an annual run rate? So is it tens of millions, hundreds of millions or maybe somewhere in between?

Vasu Raja, CRO

Hey, Dan. Let me start on this one as need be. Devon or others can pick up. But this is actually a great one, which we look forward to talking about more in our Investor Day. We are operating the entirety of the company with a tech-first mindset. This is one of many initiatives, but by no means the biggest, as promising as it is as you've laid out. So more to come soon.

Robert Isom, CEO

Sure. Vasu, I just want to add that all this work will help us deliver products faster and more efficiently. That’s the mindset we have. I’d prefer not to discuss it as a separate issue. We’ll present everything together as we approach March 4th.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. Our first question comes from the line of Alison Sider of Wall Street Journal. Please go ahead, Alison.

Alison Sider, Analyst

Hi. Thanks so much. I was wondering what is your level of confidence in Boeing's current leadership?

Robert Isom, CEO

Hey, Ali. Look, a couple of quick things. First off, some of Boeing's current issues are all around the MAX 9 and the 737-900s. American Airlines does not fly those aircraft. We're a huge Boeing customer, though, and we're dependent on them for just producing. We're going to hold them accountable. Boeing needs to get their act together. The issues that they've been dealing with over the recent period of time, but also going back a number of years now is unacceptable. And no matter who it is, all of Boeing needs to come together and to get back on the right track.

Alison Sider, Analyst

And the production limits that the FAA announced last night to the MAX, but do you expect that to have any impact on deliveries for American? I mean, do you think that that makes sense for Boeing?

Robert Isom, CEO

So, look, we will encourage Boeing to do everything that they can to get back on track and produce a quality product, plain and simple. For us, we have a fleet right now of over 1,500 aircraft, so we have 20 MAX 8s that are on the horizon for this next year. These aircraft are likely already in production, and I don't anticipate running into any issues. But I'll say this as well, though. Nobody has taken on more new aircraft than American Airlines in recent history. And we take that acceptance process very seriously, and we've done that for years. We have the teams of people in place to make sure that what comes onto Americans property is ready to go, ready to fly. And as I said before, we encourage Boeing to get their act together, get back on the right track.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Mary Schlangenstein of Bloomberg News. Please go ahead, Mary.

Mary Schlangenstein, Analyst

Hey. Good morning. Just to follow up on that, as you continue to talk to OEMs about a potential narrow body order this year, are the things that are occurring at Boeing right now, is that having any impact at all as you think about placing that order? And then also wondering if you think that federal officials are taking the right steps in looking at Boeing. They've said they may expand to other production lines than the MAX. Do you see them taking the right steps or would you like to see them doing something different, maybe going even stronger on new requirements from Boeing?

Robert Isom, CEO

So, Mary, thanks for the questions. Let me just start with this first. Administrator Whitaker, we have incredible confidence in. He's the right person for the job right now, and I'm very, very confident that he will hold all of us, but especially Boeing accountable for what they do. And to that end, I think that's the right approach. Look, aviation in the United States, aviation throughout the world, it's the safest form of transportation. We have a commitment to keep it that way, and Boeing has to be part of that equation. Now, as we take a look at future needs for aircraft, again, American Airlines, we have 1,500 aircraft, and a lot of the growth that we've been talking about is getting planes back up in the air that we could get more utilization out of. So, we're fortunate from that perspective. We're also fortunate to be the operator of the world's largest fleet of Airbus aircraft. So, look, we need Boeing to be successful over the long run. They've got to get their act together. We need all OEMs to do their job. It's hard enough running an airline. We need quality product, and that's what we demand.

Mary Schlangenstein, Analyst

So can you comment on whether what's going on at Boeing will reflect your ultimate decision on a narrow body order?

Robert Isom, CEO

We take the acquisition of new aircraft very seriously and will ensure that whatever we purchase, whether from Airbus, Boeing, Embraer, or others, meets our high standards. We are committed to ensuring that the product is incredibly reliable and safe right from the factory.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. Please standby for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Leslie Josephs of CNBC. Your question, please, Leslie.

Leslie Josephs, Analyst

Hi. Thank you. Are you increasing your oversight personally at Boeing and do you see that as a permanent change, just given that it's kind of been one issue after another? And then just another question. Is Boeing providing any compensation, whether cash or in the form of discounts or anything else because of the issue and the FAA blocking any further production that could impact deliveries? Thanks.

Robert Isom, CEO

Hey, Leslie. Look, as I've said before, American Airlines has taken more new aircraft than anyone in, really, the history of commercial aviation over the last 10 years. And on that front, we've had to deal with quality issues that we've had to make sure that we were protected against. And so from that perspective, we have a very robust aircraft acceptance process with people that are dedicated to that. And we're going to make sure that whatever we take from any manufacturer, and especially Boeing, that we have the right resources to ensure that they meet our specifications and are ready to go when they come into our fleet. And I'll leave it at that.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. That does conclude the Q&A portion of our call. I would now like to turn the conference back to Robert Isom for closing remarks. Sir?

Robert Isom, CEO

Thanks, Latif. Look, 2023 was an exceptional year for us. It was another year of building back from the pandemic, and I'm really proud of what the team has done. They've established us as the industry leader in reliability. We've restored the airline to profitability. We produced record free cash flow last year. We've got another year of really making sure that we continue the progress. It's a year that we're still recovering from the pandemic, and we're going to have to see how demand and capacity all shakes out. But as I've said even earlier today, we expect demand to be very strong. The spring and summer, I think, are going to be exceptional times for us in terms of demand for product. And as we look forward, I'm very interested in sitting down with folks and talking on March 4 at our Investor Day and talking about the future of American, building on that platform, showing how we have changed and that we have a mindset of producing for our customers, taking care of our team, and also making sure that we reward shareholders. More on that in the next month. And everybody, take care, and we'll talk soon.

Operator, Operator

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.