Destinations

American Airways has opened its very personal resort. Here is why …

Welcome to Skyview 6.

The shimmering six-story glass constructing sits only a brief hop from Dallas/Fort Value Worldwide Airport (DFW), one of many latest resorts in Texas to welcome visitors.

The 600-room facility opened in January and touts an extended listing of facilities. It features a two-level, 73,500-square-foot health middle, a swimming pool, pickleball and volleyball courts, and a number of eating choices.

There’s additionally a ten,000-square-foot ballroom that may accommodate a variety of company occasions; it even has partitions that may flip the area into an indoor-outdoor facility.

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Nonetheless, if you wish to keep right here, you’re out of luck.

Skyview 6 rises above the tree line. BEN MUTZABAUGH/THE POINTS GUY

Skyview 6 doesn’t settle for reservations from the general public. It’s open solely to pilots, flight attendants and different American Airways crewmembers touring to headquarters.

The constructing is a brief stroll — or bike experience — from the services the place pilots, attendants and different frontline employees come for normal coaching to maintain the {qualifications} present. The airline envisions it as a spot not just for crew to remain throughout coaching but in addition as a spot to foster a way of collaboration and group amongst workers.

Holly Ragan, American’s senior supervisor of company actual property, led the design and development of Skyview 6.

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“I’ve been floored by the form of tradition it’s constructing,” Ragan advised TPG throughout a walk-through of the ability final week.

The Skyview 6 foyer simply previous check-in. COURTESY OF AMERICAN AIRLINES

The communal, shared area creates an surroundings the place workers “are capable of join (and) construct relationships,” Ragan mentioned as she continued the tour, her enthusiasm exhausting to cover.

She calls Skyview 6 her “unicorn” – one thing that lets Ragan and her workforce mix all of the high-profile elements of actual property design that hardly ever come collectively in a single challenge.

A trendy new resort? Examine. A hovering health middle and public areas with sweeping staircases and iconic artwork? Examine. A tavern and restaurant facility, every with its personal signature areas? Examine and verify.

“It’s been an absolute blast to have the ability to lead this challenge,” Ragan mentioned as we continued our tour.

That challenge – Skyview 6 – is the newest addition to American Airways’ headquarters advanced, which sits amongst leafy inexperienced areas and alongside a languid stream.

Assume much less of a soulless workplace park and extra of a college-like campus dubbed “Skyview” — or formally the Robert L. Crandall Campus, in honor of American’s legendary CEO from the Nineteen Eighties and Nineties.

Buildings embody Skyview 8 (the primary headquarters constructing), the CR Smith Museum, which chronicles American’s historical past, and the corporate’s operations and coaching facilities. Pedestrian- and bike-friendly pathways wind via the property and hyperlink the buildings collectively.

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Now, the resort takes its place because the final main addition to the Skyview advanced. American describes it as “the ultimate step in bringing key services and providers collectively on one campus” in an surroundings that “fosters collaboration and innovation” amongst workers.

Regardless of its off-limits standing to nonemployees, the glowing new resort has sparked curiosity.

Brady Byrnes, American’s government who oversees the service’s flight attendants, inflight eating and golf equipment and lounges, acknowledges that he’s fielded inquiries from aspiring visitors.

“The questions vary anyplace from ‘You guys have a resort?’ to ‘How can I guide it? Is it on Orbitz?’,” mentioned Byrnes, who’s labored for American since starting as a flight attendant in 1997.

Spoiler alert: It is not.

Nonetheless, for these workers who get to move via the resort’s doorways, the expertise is more likely to be a memorable one.

Learn on for an inside take a look at what it’s like at Skyview 6.

Examine-in and foyer

Workers arriving by shuttle or automotive from DFW – about 7 miles north – enter at a devoted drop-off spot simply exterior check-in space. These coming from elsewhere on campus enter the constructing from the opposite aspect of check-in space. There’s a devoted Skyview 6 docking station for these coming through the campus bike-share.

The check-in desk sits below ceiling replicas of engine generators for Boeing 787, 777, 737 and Airbus A320-family planes – the 4 planes that comprise the service’s mainline (nonregional) fleet.

Most workers can entry the constructing and their rooms with cellular keys linked to their telephones, however bodily key playing cards can be found upon request.

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Throughout from the check-in desk is a staircase that rises below a round medallion paying homage to just about a half-century of American Airways flight attendants. The medallion was the identical one which hung at American’s authentic “Stewardess School” – one thing American says was an trade first when it opened in 1957.

For many years, attendants would have their group picture taken below that medallion upon finishing their coaching — a practice that now lives on within the foyer of Skyview 6.

“The staircase means quite a bit to flight attendants,” Byrnes mentioned.

BEN MUTZABAUGH/THE POINTS GUY

Rooms

“Each room is precisely the identical,” Ragan mentioned.

The uniform structure, nevertheless, doesn’t imply it is drab and boring. Queen-size beds and dealing desks look out over campus via floor-to-ceiling home windows.

Throughout design, workforce members had been solicited for suggestions on what they needed within the room.

“Pilots had been passionate in regards to the blackout (blinds),” Ragan shared.

BEN MUTZABAUGH/THE POINTS GUY

There’s a recliner in each room, which additionally got here on the request of workers.

Each room has a protected that may match a laptop computer, permitting workers to soundly stow their firm {hardware} when it’s time to take a break from learning and coaching regimens.

BEN MUTZABAUGH/THE POINTS GUY

Loos are fitted with mirrors with inline clock shows and Bluetooth capabilities that enable crew members to play music whereas they prepare for the day.

Typical hotel-style wardrobes can be found for hanging garments. Rooms additionally characteristic drawer storage for longer stays since some coaching classes can last as long as three weeks.

BEN MUTZABAUGH/THE POINTS GUY

Public areas

Every ground has a research lounge and a laundry room. The lounges are designed as shared areas to encourage collaboration and interplay amongst crewmembers, in keeping with Ragan.

Elsewhere, airline-themed artwork traces the halls. Some signature items produced in customized sizes are nonetheless but to reach.

Open staircases join areas off the foyer, health middle and different spots. It’s meant to imitate the texture of Skyview 8, the primary administrative constructing, the place all workers — together with CEO Robert Isom and the chief workforce — sit at open desks with few partitions.

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Eating

The Skyview 6 eating services run the gamut from grab-and-go choices to cafeteria and bar-style choices.

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The Tavern evokes a stylish, hip big-city pub. A mixture of cubicles, bar seats and high-top tables flank pool tables and a bar in a triangular-shaped area. Ground-to-ceiling home windows can retract throughout good climate to remodel the pub into an indoor/outside area.

Throughout the courtyard from the Tavern is a cafeteria-style eating facility. Guests enter this wing of Skyview 6 with the choice to cease at a grab-and-go facility or a espresso bar that shifts to wine service within the night.

BEN MUTZABAUGH/THE POINTS GUY

These coming for the primary eating room place their orders at kiosks after which accumulate their meals because it’s ready. From there, they proceed to the eating space. There’s a variety of seating choices, and above the signature area is a rotunda with a compass mounted below the round roof. The enormous duplicate compass factors true north.

The eateries serve as much as 1,700 lunches in a typical day.

AMERICAN AIRLINES

Courtyard

There is a public outside area between two wings of Skyview 6. Texas native vegetation and reclaimed limestone boulders punctuate the landscaping. Strolling trails meander via the area and join it to the primary campus walkways. A docking station sits close to a Skyview 6 entrance for guests arriving by bike.

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There’s additionally the Globe of Firsts — an Instagram-friendly set up amid the strolling trails in the course of the courtyard. The 12-foot silver sphere is inscribed with American’s “firsts,” such because the launch of its AAdvantage frequent-flyer program and its trail-blazing feminine pilots.

Train services

On the spacious two-floor health middle, pure gentle floods in from floor-to-ceiling home windows. The power provides greater than 70,000 sq. ft of area and options weights, exercise machines and group health rooms for yoga, biking and different classes.

Out of doors services embody a pool and courts for volleyball, basketball and pickleball.

COURTESY OF AMERICAN AIRLINES

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