"Chief of American's Lambert hub craves action"

Monday, July 26, 2004

Chief of American's Lambert hub craves action
By Tim McLaughlin
The St. Louis (MO) Post-Dispatch

 
American Airlines employees at Lambert Field sometimes get nervous when
they don't see Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge on her regular walks inside the
airport. 

That's because painful legacies continue to churn in the daily emotions
of workers at American Airlines' St. Louis operations. It's been less
than a year since large-scale work-force reductions at Lambert Field put
already skeptical employees on the edge as American struggles to
overcome its pock-marked balance sheet. 

"They watch the schedule like a hawk," says Hamm-Niebruegge, 44. "If
something changes, they'll say something like, 'Rhonda, why did we lose
a flight on Saturday?' They're very skeptical about every little thing
that goes on here. If I don't constantly get out and share with them, or
spend time with them, 'They're like, 'What's up?'" 

Hamm-Niebruegge's business card reads "managing director-STL Hub" for
American Airlines. Another description could be airport ramrod, morale
booster, cajoler, airline industry survivor. 

Twice a day her long strides carry her throughout the airport. She goes
to the break rooms, the lunch areas and throughout the terminal. She
spends a lot of time memorizing employee names and something about them.


"There's been so much change, ups and downs, in the airline industry
over the last 20 years that I think it's important that people feel like
they're not just a number," Hamm-Niebruegge says. "And everything they
do is based on a seniority number." 

But another part of the story is that American Airlines' game plan for
Lambert Field is working. And the airline's St. Louis operations
continue to top the charts for on-time flight performance and other
important measures within the American Airlines system, Hamm-Niebruegge
said. 

Inside an office at Lambert's main terminal, she can track just about
anything about an American Airlines flight from her computer: flight
delays, crew and pilot assignments, the number of bags and passengers on
a plane and ramp service. If there's a 2-minute delay, for example,
Hamm-Niebruegge won't hesitate to call the control tower to find out
why. 

"Our performance is by far the best in the American Airlines system,"
she says. "It's nice for our employees. They have an incredible work
ethic." 

About three-quarters of the airline's flights from Lambert are nonstop.
They produce better operating profit than connecting flights. American
Airlines used to have mostly low-yield connector flights out of St.
Louis before restructuring operations here. 

"People always pay less when they take a connecting over a nonstop
flight," Hamm-Niebruegge explains. She said the airline now has the
right mix of flights to make St. Louis a financially viable operations. 

AMR Corp., the parent company of American Airlines, reported a net loss
of $160 million through the six months ended June 30, a significant
improvement over the $1.12 billion net loss in the year-earlier period. 

"Compared to a year ago, we ran a much more efficient, more productive
and smarter airline in the second quarter," AMR Chairman and Chief
Executive Gerard Arpey said Wednesday in a statement. 

Hamm-Niebruegge oversees 650 American Airlines employees at the airport,
5 million square feet of space, and if one of the airline's St. Louis
passengers has a problem, chances are Hamm-Niebruegge will hear about
it. 

Her first choice for a job out of college would have been as an
interpreter for the Central Intelligence Agency. She had a couple of
interviews and underwent psychological testing, but ended up taking a
job with Ozark Airlines after graduating from the University of
Missouri-Columbia in the early 1980s. 

She first worked as a customer service agent, but eventually went into
operations, a career track that had been male dominated. That didn't
matter to her. 

Hamm-Niebruegge grew up on a farm in Missouri's Bootheel region with
three brothers. She stands 6 feet tall and was a spiker on Mizzou's
women's volleyball team. She's not afraid to mix it up. 

"I was extremely competitive with them," she says of her brothers.
"There wasn't anything they did I couldn't do. I wasn't a Tom boy, but
mom and dad encouraged competition." 

Despite taking a lesser position after Trans World Airlines swallowed up
Ozark in the mid-1980s, her career flourished under the new corporate
ownership. Hamm-Niebruegge eventually became vice president of TWA's
North American operations. She was responsible for 8,000 employees
across 100 airports. 

But her career took another trajectory in 2001 when American Airlines
said it would acquire TWA. With deep roots in St. Louis, Hamm-Niebruegge
chose not to move into a position at American Airlines' corporate
headquarters in Texas. 

She continues to work on special projects for the corporation and hunts
for cost savings at Lambert Field. But it's the operations of an airline
that keep her excited about the industry. 

"I need action," Hamm-Niebruegge says. "The worst day out here is
sometimes my best day." 

Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge 

Age: 44 

Title: Managing Director of the St. Louis hub for American Airlines 

Married to Steve Niebruegge. They have three children and live in
Ballwin. 

Graduated from University of Missouri-Columbia in 1982. Majored in
German. 

Grew up on a family farm in southeastern Missouri.

Attached Photo:

Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge

rhondahamm.jpg