Episode 76 - Kipp Stoneman - American Airlines

Episode 76 – From Crew Rosters to Strategic Flight Paths: American Airlines’ SWP Evolution

In this episode I sit down with Kipp Stoneman, Managing Director of Customer & Operations Strategy and Performance Analytics at American Airlines. Kipp shares how a career that began in revenue management led him into the world of pilot and flight-attendant planning—and ultimately to driving one of the industry’s most sophisticated strategic workforce planning transformations.

We explore lessons from American’s shift from short-term head-count planning to fully optimised SWP, the operational and financial stakes of pilot training (think simulators, instructors, even five-minute schedule tweaks), and why trust in the numbers is everything. Kipp also reflects on insights from our Sydney SWP Conference and what’s next as AI and scenario-driven modelling reshape the airline’s future workforce.