American Airlines CEO disappointed by black rights group's warning

Reuters
File photo: Chairman and CEO of American Airlines Doug Parker waits to tee off on the 11th hole during the first round of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am golf tournament in Pebble Beach, California February 11, 2016. REUTERS/Michael Fiala

NEW YORK (Reuters) - American Airlines Chief Executive Doug Parker said on Thursday that a move by the leading U.S. black civil rights group to warn black travelers off the airline was "obviously a disappointment."

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) on Tuesday recommended black travelers avoid the airline after what it called a pattern of racially biased incidents.

"Discrimination, exclusion and unconscious biases are enormous problems that no one has mastered," Parker said on the airline's quarterly earnings call on Thursday.

Parker said American Airlines has made efforts to contact the NAACP and he expects the two to work together "in the very near term."

(Reporting by Alana Wise; Editing by Bill Rigby)