143 American Airlines pilots retired Thursday
[SIZE=+1]Falling value of stocks cited for the unusually high number
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[SIZE=-1]07:24 AM CST on Friday, February 1, 2008
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[SIZE=-1]By TERRY MAXON / The Dallas Morning News
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American Airlines Inc. said 143 pilots retired Thursday, an unusually high monthly number that the carrier says was caused by the falling stock market, as pilots decided to lock in the value of retirement plans.
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Anticipating the retirements, the carrier last month canceled 28 flights that it had intended to operate in February, mostly on long-distance international routes that used American's newest and largest airplanes, the Boeing 777.
"Although this represents an unusual number of retirements, it is about on par with what we anticipated," American spokesman Sue Gordon said Thursday.
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"As we (the pilots' union) have been warning for months, AMR management's inept decision-making in manning this airline has brought the current industry pilot shortage to the doorstep of AA," pilots were told in the union's weekly newsletter.
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Ms. Gordon (AA mgmt) said the airline has called on more than 250 management pilots, including those who usually are in the cockpit only to evaluate the performance of regular pilots, to fly trips as needed.
"We feel comfortable that we have sufficient pilots to operate what we have scheduled," she said.
