MBA Financial Strategy Intern 2019 - 2020 (Ft Worth, TX, US)

Location: AA Headquarters 1 (DFW-HDQ1) 
Additional Locations: Dallas/Ft Worth, TX
Requisition ID: 29636 

Job Description

Over the past 5 years, American Airlines has taken delivery of over 500 new aircraft and has invested billions of dollars in new aircraft, technology, infrastructure and most importantly, in our employees.  We’ve built the largest airline in the world and are generating record-breaking profits, but we are just getting started.  We are transforming our culture by focusing on validating the trust placed in us by our frontline team members and have broken ground on a brand new integrated campus where all 120,000 employees will interact and collaborate.

With the bulk of our integration behind us, we are focused on planning for the long-term and enhancing customer experience and shareholder value. That includes hiring MBAs to work on meaningful assignments to support the company’s pursuit of greatness and to ultimately become the next generation of leaders at American. Sound like an unrealistic expectation? Just consider that American’s Management Leadership Program has for 30 years been the training ground for many leaders in the airline industry. In fact, the past three CEOs at American got their start as new hires in American’s MBA Program, as did the current CEO at Virgin Atlantic and countless other executives at other Fortune 500 companies.

 

Key Responsibilities:

Interns will join American Airlines in one of eight groups within the Financial Planning and Analysis organization. The FP&A organization facilitates financial analysis of strategic corporate and operational initiatives, provides centralized planning for all financial processes, and establishes frameworks for investing in aircraft and infrastructure improvements. Interns are responsible for various financial models that support planning and decision-making, and are often required to communicate their understanding of issues and formulate recommendations to senior management.  Within each group, responsibilities range from in-depth cause and effect analyses, competitive analyses, and analytical consulting to monthly review of financial performance and analytical modeling.

Interns at American Airlines are expected to develop skills which extend beyond just financial analysis:

• Strategy: Interns will assess network profitability, evaluate labor contracts, create and track financial performance plans, and analyze performance against competing airlines.
• Teamwork: Interns will engage in cross-functional analyses, collaborating with various departments on projects ranging from driving fleet strategy to developing business plans for major capital investments.
• Communication with senior management: Interns enjoy significant exposure to senior management across several departments.

 

Job Qualifications

• Excellent interpersonal, oral, and written communication skills, including the ability to negotiate and communicate effectively with all levels of management
• Strong demonstrated analytical skills.
• Ability to adapt and apply a variety of analytical approaches, to logically structure analysis of complex issues and to develop creative solutions to business, financial, and operational challenges.
• Leadership  skills  --  ability  to  motivate,  take  initiative,  and  manage  stress  while  operating  within  a  team environment.
• 2-3 years full-time work experience in finance, general management, consulting or related fields.
• Enrollment in an accredited MBA program, and completion of a full year of course work is required.

Finance Teams

Fleet Planning

Fleet Planning evaluates aircraft economics to determine the most efficient aircraft acquisition and retirement strategy to meet AA’s network objectives. Based on this analysis, the group publishes the AA’s 5yr Fleet Plan, used by various analytical groups for operational planning.  The team works closely with groups in FP&A, Network Planning, Operations, Marketing, & senior leaders.

Operating Budgets team works closely with Controller and Accounting to understand business issues impacting financial statements, produce consolidated forecasted financial statements, and lead the annual budgeting process. Activities include creating divisional goals, analyzing financial results, maintaining a central set of operating statistics for AA, and presenting financial results to senior mgmt. The team is also leading a corporate wide cost efficiency project that will unfold over the next few years.

The Long-range Planning team manages the strategic financial forecasting tool for AA used to facilitate and analyze fleet/growth decisions, financing scenarios and uses of cash. The team provides an update for each BOD meeting. The Long-range Planning team requires analysts to develop an understanding of the airline as a whole while also leveraging financial, analytical and modeling skills. 

Financial Analysis team is comprised of two teams: Business Intelligence (BI) and Analysis.

BI group provides team members with the opportunity to develop a robust understanding of Flight Profitability, Airline Revenues, and Industry Results. By actively engaging with these datasets through analyses like deep dives into new market performance, teams are able to build a strong foundation in airline economics, airline revenues and competitor performance. Additionally, members work closely with different departments to develop monthly Flight Profitability results which are presented to senior leadership on a recurring basis. Spending time in the BI group provides you with the relationships and necessary skills to become effective contributors in the Analysis group.

 Analysis group identifies opportunities for financial and operational improvement and presents these insights to senior leaders. The team works on projects as varied as analyzing aircraft utilization trends to decomposing the differences between our margin and our competitors. The team is organized around two main focal points: Commercial and Industry. The Commercial team works with Network Planning and Rev. Mgmt to support their projects while the Industry team analyzes historical and forecasted future performance versus our competitors.

Capital Planning evaluates the merits of proposed capital/corporate real estate projects through analysis and provides informed recommendations to senior mgmt. Teams partner with Controllers and AA leaders to provide critical analytical support for key strategic projects. Additional responsibilities include developing/managing the capital spending forecast and budget process, including a thorough cause and effect analysis on such forecasts. The team also provides direct analytical support to Corporate Real Estate during lease negotiations for companywide real estate transactions and prepares packages for the Board of Directors.

Labor Analysis provides strategic and economic direction to senior mgmt pertaining to labor contract negotiations, employee compensation/benefits, industry labor cost and policy comparisons. The team develops/maintains detailed economic labor models used during contract negotiations, and works closely with departments throughout AA including Labor Relations, Crew Resources, HR and Legal.

Additional Locations: Dallas/Ft Worth, TX
Requisition ID: 29636 

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