American Airlines says 30% of seats drive half of revenue as premium cabin rush heats up

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said Wednesday that just 30% of its seats account for half of the company's revenue, a proportion that has the Fort Worth-based carrier and competitors large and small ripping up existing airplane configurations to add more first class and other higher-yielding options. "Those 30% of seats, they're only going to grow in our fleet as the reconfigurations come on board as the new aircraft deliveries come on," Isom said at a Morgan Stanley industry conference, referring to the carrier's premium seat options. The carrier earlier this month unveiled a monster 70-suite business class cabin on its largest aircraft, a Boeing 777-300ER, with more planes still awaiting their remodeling.