I was in Dallas on another Nerd Ka Travel-related matter when the opportunity came up to visit American Airlines Skyview 8. I couldn’t say no to the opportunity considering the plethora of times I’ve flown American Airlines for trip reports, meeting friends and family, and visiting new places.

This post will focus on Skyview 8. Along the way, I’ll cover unique artifacts located throughout Skyview 8 that are a joy for aviation enthusiasts & give my thoughts about the building.

American Airlines Skyview 8 Background

The following story is based on my observations and discussions with sources at American. After the merger with U.S. Airways the combined American Airlines had a problem. Corporate teams were scattered throughout the United States making collaboration difficult, complicated, and inefficient.

American Airlines built Skyview near their existing campus to accommodate the combined airline. The AA team even went to tech companies to create spaces that would benefit their employees. The solution was to consolidate most corporate departments in Ft Worth, TX & construct multiple new buildings including Skyview 7 which would house the IT department. The other building America wanted to build was Skyview 8 which would house the remaining departments including the CEO’s office. Thus allowing American Airlines to have a central campus, instead of having corporate offices scattered throughout the United States. American would retain some facilities for different functions in other cities. However, Skyview 8 would serve as the “mothership” of American Airlines.

The American Airlines campus is larger than just Skyview 7 and 8, and the American Airlines campus dates back to the 1950s, in this post, we will visit Skyview 8. Below I’ve shaded areas that are part of the AA campus in Dallas.

American Airlines Campus Map

American Airlines Skyview 8 the building with pin is the focus of this blog post

In the photo below, you can see several buildings as part of the American Airlines campus. The building to the right is a hotel (Called The Landing at Skyview) for airline staff members, they stay at the hotel for training.

American Airlines Skyview 8 Exterior

As the car turned up the road leading to Skyview 8, I felt a rush of excitement and gratefulness to get the opportunity to visit. Unfortunately, the American Airlines campus except for the CR Smith Museum is closed to the general public. Hiding behind multiple trees sits the American Airlines Skyview 8 building. I exited the car and was struck by how beautifully designed it was. While researching for this article I discovered the sharp corners at the end of each building were to celebrate the “optimism and wonder of aviation“.

After waiting and admiring the nice landscaping I made my way inside into the headquarters of the world’s largest airline by passenger volume.

American Airlines Skyview 8 Lobby

Upon entering the building my eyes immediately went to the ceiling and I saw the fanblade of an airplane engine.

The central building is about 3 stories high and is the main area for Skyview 8. As mentioned the CEO, and other corporate staff are located in this building.

Immediately to the left is an American Airlines Merch Shop.

American Airlines Skyview 8 Merch Shop

I was told there are multiple shops on campus. Unfortunately, these stores are closed to the general public but there is a shop with American Airlines merch at Dallas Fort Worth Airport Concourse C by gate C2

As they say, pictures are worth a thousand words, I will let them do the talking. I’ll comment if I have something to say!

Rolls Royce Engine

This Boeing 757 – 200 engine is known as the Rolls Royce RB211-535. It flew approximately 90,000, nearly the same as 40 million miles or 1,638 trips around the earth. The engine was retired in 2018 and American’s power plant team built and delivered this engine to American Airlines Skyview 8.

Giant Seatbelt

American Airlines Colorful Aircraft Wheels

This eye-catching display is of different landing gear wheels. They colored differently to help American maintenance staff tell which landing gear belongs to the corresponding plane type.

A321 Landing Gear

This landing gear is from an Airbus A321 (a plane type I am very familiar with). I did not realize how tall it was until I saw it in person (the steps in the background help put the height of the landing gear into perspective). This landing gear was donated by multiple companies as shown on the card below.

Safety Cards

There is also this very cool display of safety cards of various aircraft types.

American Airlines Skyview 8 Safety Cards

As shown below there are even safety cards from planes American no longer operates such as the Boeing 757 & 767-300, Embraer 190, & Airbus A330.

Eating under Artwork

American has a large maintenance facility in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tulsa is where the 777 fleet and American’s other planes get heavy maintenance completed. The Tulsa team created a unique art piece for the new building.

A better angle of the art piece is shown below.

Vertical Stabilizer

This vertical stabilizer comes from a Boeing 737 – 800 which is about 23.50 ft (7.16 m) tall. This one is scaled down to approximately one third of the actual height.

Gaming Area

American Airlines Skyview 8 even features a gaming area. I was confused for a second thinking am I really in an airline HQ or is this just a tech company HQ in disguise?

Outdoor Event Area

Between the towers is a neat outdoor area where different events take place

Pittsburgh Meeting Area

I have no idea why American Airlines Skyview 8 has a meeting area named after Pittsburgh International Airport considering the tense history between US Airways & Pittsburgh International Airport. US Airways was founded in Pittsburgh later US Airways merged with American Airlines. US Airways abandoned the hub due to increasing costs, the sudden hub closure shocked the community. Maybe it’s to honor US Airways’ roots?

Similar to other parts of the building, featuring the contemporary style the staircases are not an exception either. Each of the 4 towers of Skyview 8 is 7 stories tall.

Conclusion

I was expecting a stereotypical corporate office building. I was very impressed with American Airlines Skyview 8 contemporary style. In addition, I loved the different aviation artifacts. The different American Airlines teams delivered such as the engine, and art piece the Tulsa team assembled. I hope you enjoyed and learned something, thanks for the opportunity to tour Skyview 8! I hope to come back one day and take a tour of the whole campus to share with everyone! Let me know in the comments what your favorite part of Skyview 8 was!