AA Workers Brace For Thousands Of Job Cuts

More Than 6,000 Jobs Likely On Chopping Block As Airline Faces Record High Fuel Costs

(AP)  Many more job cuts, likely totaling more than 6,000, are likely at American Airlines as the nation's biggest airline hunkers down and tries to survive record high fuel costs.

American notified its flight attendants union on Wednesday that it will cut up to 900 jobs starting Aug. 31, but that appears to be the tip of the iceberg.

Although American has not given a total figure, the airline says it expects to shed 8 percent of its work force. With about 85,500 workers, including those at sister airline American Eagle, that would represent more than 6,800 jobs.

"The mood is fairly glum," said Karl Schricker, an American pilot and union spokesman. "They brought back 30 furloughed pilots in June. Those guys quit other jobs to come back ... and now they wonder if they'll be out the door."

American plans to cut domestic capacity 11 percent to 12 percent this fall. Overall, including international flying, that translates to a pullback of about 8 percent.

Jeffrey Brundage, senior vice president of personnel at American parent AMR Corp., said in a memo to employees Wednesday that jobs will be reduced "commensurate" with the overall 8 percent reductions.

Brundage, however, did not cite a specific number in his memo. And he said the company is still working through the specifics by employee type - pilots, mechanics and so on.

The company said last week that it would cut management and support staff jobs by about 8 percent in September.

American's unions have been waiting for grim news since May, when the company announced it would sharply curtail U.S. flying and retire 45 to 50 planes after the busy summer vacation season.

AMR lost $328 million in the first quarter of this year, and the second quarter got off to an even worse start when American grounded its MD-80 fleet for safety inspections. More than 3,000 flights were canceled, costing the airline tens of millions of dollars in lost ticket sales.

Analysts expect AMR to post a loss of about $330 million in the just-concluded second quarter, according to a survey by Thomson Financial.

That does not include one-time charges, and AMR said Wednesday it expects to take a charge of $1.1 billion to $1.2 billion in the second quarter to write down the value of its MD-80 and Embraer RJ-135 aircraft fleets. AMR also expects a $70 million charge to cover severance costs over the next year, some of which will show up in the third quarter.

Shares of AMR rose 21 cents, or 4.6 percent, to $4.83 Thursday after falling to a 5-year low of $4.48 earlier in the session.

American's planned job cuts follow announcements of similar reductions at other U.S. carriers - 4,000 at Delta Air Lines Inc., 3,000 at Continental Airlines Inc., 2,550 at UAL Corp.'s United Airlines, and 1,700 at US Airways Group Inc.

Airlines are raising fares and special fees to raise cash. Late Wednesday, United boosted the fuel surcharge on U.S. travel by $20, it is now up to $170 per round trip. American and Continental matched the increase on Thursday.

But those steps won't offset fuel prices that are at record levels and still rising.

Ray Neidl, an analyst with Calyon Securities, said Thursday he expects the 2008 losses to be closer to $6.5 billion before write-downs and that the red ink will continue for the next year and a half.

"The industry is moving into survival mode and has entered uncharted territory with fuel costs well above $140 a barrel," he said.

Neidl said the best thing that could happen to the airline industry would be having one or two big carriers fail, shrinking the supply of seats and letting the survivors raise ticket prices.

At American, the job cuts disclosed so far are only a small fraction of those needed if American is to cut its work force by 8 percent.

The reduction of 900 flight attendant jobs equals only 5 percent of the airline's 18,000 active flight attendants, and the reaction among the employees this week was one of relief - they expected a much bigger cut.

Pilots, who have their own union, and ground workers represented by the Transport Workers Union say they have not been told how many of their jobs will be lost.

Jamie Horowitz, a spokesman for the TWU, said the union hoped no mechanic jobs would be lost because those workers bring in money For American by working on planes for other carriers at American facilities. TWU also represents baggage handlers.

American has agreements with the TWU and the Association of Professional Flight Attendants to offer voluntary measures before making layoffs. Voluntary steps will include leaves of absence for U.S.-based employees who are 50 or older and have been at American for at least 15 years.

To raise cash, AMR is selling 90 percent of its investment arm and is trying to sell or spin off American Eagle this year.

"The market for selling Eagle right now is probably not too good," said Neidl, the analyst.

[cheetah-man7]

Get ready for another "great depression"

------------------------------------------------------

Posted by whiskyrocker



You''re just full of good vibes, aren''t you?

[cheetah-man7]

Does Obama have a solution??? NO!

OBAMA DOESN''''T EVEN HAVE A CLUE!!!!

------------

Posted by JTait2




And can you please tell us what plan McCain has? Something tells me that big corporations will get even wealthier and the lines for unemployment will get longer and longer under mcCain.

[whitemale08]

Bing-bing-bing "This is Capt. Bush speaking and the seat belt sign is on which means all passengers back to their seats. We are experiencing turbulence as we touch down to the Republican city of Neo Futilism."

"We hope you enjoyed this life of debt and fake prosperty and hope that you will be a good little serf in this chaotic jewel city of Serfdom."

[whiskyrocker]

Get ready for another "great depression"

[whiskyrocker]

Our country is going down the tank. What a shame.

[randynason]

AA Workers Brace For Thousands Of Job Cuts

Uh-oh... I thought the headline read: Alcoholics Anonymous Workers Brace... I guess Babs Bush has nothing to fear, after all. Never mind-

[lemonskink]

The economy is moving along, swimmingly.

Ann Coulter.

[rushlimpdrug]

And this is what we call change.

''Cause change is goooood.

Let''s keep the change going.

Everyone got their flag pins on today?


As a side, note that none of the candidates are
talking about real issues.

[whitemale08]

Posted by whatinthewld at 11:17 AM : Jul 04, 2008-

You my friend do not understand why oil prices are up.

It''s up because the Federal System has lowered interest rates down to 2% that is the devaluation of our currency of over 50% in just this year alone.

[kidofstl]

TWA certainly was not the best of airlines and did have issues, but it treated the St. Louis hub and Kansas City mechanical base far better than American ever did. After making false promises to the St. Louis employees, AA went and totally turn what was once the 10th busiest airport in the nation to almost a ghost town. I feel pity for the AA employees but NONE for that company as a whole.

[nssherlock1]

That''s a change. Looks like American Airlines is crashing and burning while still on the ground!

[lloydbest1]

"Same with LloydBest1 - Bush and Cheney will be more than happy to let someone else try to fix this country...." Posted by whatinthewld at 11:17 AM : Jul 04, 2008

No. I don''t think so. Not unless it is someone over whom those two have absolute control. My reason for believing this lies in the evidence, already documented and in the public domain, of malfeasance of office, activities that are legally admissable as "war crimes", lying about Iraq''s intentions and its WMD capabilities, and the illegal wiretapping fiasco that congress is wrestling with now. Add to that all the stuff we don''t know about that Bush has refused to allow to be released; that an opponent would be sure to, and you have two extremely desparate executives.
Any or all the above is prosecutable; would be grounds for impeachment and the statute of limitations do not expire when they leave office. They are exposed to a very real danger of losing not only their fortunes but their freedom should a political enemy take the White House.
They have a back door legal process to prevent that; to stop a political opponent from being elected or taking office and I can almost guarantee they will use it if they believe it will keep them out of court and out of prison. It''s no longer about hanging on to power and privelege for them, it''s about survival.

Hey! isn''t this tread supposed to comment on the airlines?! Sorry about hijacking it.

[fee1free4u]

There''s no guarantees in life. Especially life in this job market.
If you don''t like the volatility of the airlines, quit and go elsewhere.

[navyjimfl]

I foresee vending machines instead of galleys!...
...$5 for a Snickers bar... Yum! Posted by NAUcoming4U

Already in today news.....$2 for a 12oz coke and $3 for peanuts or a candy bar....probably go to $5

[whatinthewld]

whitemale08 - hidden taxes.........taxing only the poor and middle class..........are you an ostridge hiding your head in the sand? What you have written is absolutely absurd and rediculous.

Same with LloydBest1 - Bush and Cheney will be more than happy to let someone else try to fix this country. I look forward to getting Obama in so we can have gas at 0.98 cents a gallon again. If he can''t get our gas prices back down to what they were, than you guys will have to eat all the mud you have thrown at Bush and cheney.

[whitemale08]

Posted by LloydBest1 at 10:01 AM : Jul 04, 2008-

People have to understand that the compromise for allowing the Federal Reserve System to exist was to tax income.

But the Republicans have allways felt that the majority of the tax should come from those hard working Americans at the bottom.

The problem is is that "the power to tax income" was the only mechanism for the middle class to get back their money that was stolen through inflation.

That''s why Democrats have always been for tax the rich and eliminate taxes for the poor and middle class.

Because Republicans believe this fallacy that you can earn more money then what is humanly possible in a lifetime. That''s crazy. Somebody has to pay for that through inflation (which is the hidden tax on the poor) or some type of regulation has to be put in place to stabilize the economy.

If you''re going to have a private "Federal Reserve System" instead of a ''free market system'' then at least regulate the da** thing for the welfare of all citizens.

[lloydbest1]

"It''''s really up to us! VOTE DEMOCRAT! Obama 08" Posted by MCVet at 07:35 AM : Jul 04, 2008

Sorry, soldier; but the best we can expect from "O" is he will manage to keep things from getting any worse than they are now.
That is IF the Bush/Cheney axis (of evil) even allow an election to take place. My guess is they will decide sometime in mid-October whether McCain has a chance and if not; will phoney up some sort of terrorist attack which would allow them the justification to declare a state of emergency, cancel or invalidate the elections (they CAN do this, by the way - scary thought, ain''t it) and rule by decree. And as long as they decide the "state of emergency" exists, essentially for life.
But let''s say that by some freak of chance the Neocon Mafia screws up and Obama actually does get fairly elected...There has been so much egregious mismanagement of our country and its resources that even reversing our 8 year downward death spiral will be a tremendous undertaking.
Don''t get me wrong! Barak is our best possible choice. I just want it understood that we need to avoid expecting much from him his first term and only the beginings of a turnaround toward the middle of his second should he be fortunate enough to have one.

Posted by whitemale08 at 10:06 AM : Jul 04, 2008

Understood. The cuts at the top must be the deepest.

[whitemale08]

Posted by LloydBest1 at 10:01 AM : Jul 04, 2008-

I agree with you but we have to tax all of these oligarchies and so called monarchies out of existence because they have stolen all of what they have through the IMF and Federal Reserve System.

If we don''t just because we think its cute to call them Princes and Dutchesses and Counts and Dukes then we are living in no different times then that of the Dark Ages back in the late 16th Century or Middle Ages

[lloydbest1]

Posted by ramos937 at 04:30 AM : Jul 04, 2008
Posted by OneWorldUSA at 05:19 AM : Jul 04, 2008

Good advice. But I have to temper that with some bad news. Virtually every G-7 resident (except maybe the poorest 15%) is living at a standard that is flatly unsustainable. It isn''t just Americans. We simply do not have the resources to continue living like we do. Even if we could solve all our energy supply worries, we are still rapidly running out of fresh water, crop land, timber, minerals, fishery stocks, and every other vital resource I haven''t mentioned. And with China and India ramping up their expectations of the "good life"......There is NO WAY the majority of us can continue to live at our present standards and expect to leave anything for our descendants.
I have busted my azz for over 40 years earn the means to live at a level that I consider adequate. Now that I have nearly succeeded, I find that unless I pare way back, I won''t have anything for my own retirement let alone anything for my kids and grandchildren.
To say I resent the neccessity to downsize my material expectations and live (far) more austerely than my not-quite-middle-class existance already is an understatement. I don''t like writing this any more than I imagine any of you want to read it; but if we don''t make the effort to practise some sort of voluntary simplicity now, we will eventually be condemned to lives of INvoluntary poverty.

[docpeter-2009]

I wonder how many AA execs. will be terminated. I wonder how many AA execs. have considered taking a pay cut to try to ensure the stability of the company. I wonder how many AA execs have considered any of this for themselves.

Come on guys take one for "The Team".