Now What!
*** AMR to Lay Off 500 at Eagle Unit
Action is prompted by dropping of turboprops, addition of jets.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
2002-02-02
AMR Corp. will lay off 500 workers at its American Eagle commuter
carrier and may sell a business so it can increase its use of
regional jets.
The layoffs are needed because a contract clause limits the size of
American Eagle while pilots at AMR's American Airlines remain on
furlough, Jeff Brundage, American's vice president of employee
relations, said Friday.
American Eagle will ground 38 turboprop aircraft, end operations in
Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas, and Lafayette, La., and curtail flights
in seven markets. The changes aren't expected to have any immediate
impact at Lambert Field.
AMR, which also owns TWA Airlines LLC, wants to use more regional
jets, which generally carry 70 or fewer passengers, to feed
travelers from smaller communities to American Airlines.
AMR also may sell Executive Airlines to reduce existing capacity at
American Eagle and allow AMR to add more regional jets, Brundage
said. Executive Airlines, based in San Juan, Puerto Rico, makes
American Eagle flights in the Caribbean using turboprop aircraft.
American Eagle had 175 turboprops and 107 regional jets as of
November 2001, according to the company's Internet site
(
www.aa.com). American had 702 jetliners and TWA, now integrated
into American, had 167.
Sen. Bond sends letter
In another effort to help TWA Airlines workers gain what they
believe would be equitable seniority integration, Sen.
Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Mo., asked the National Mediation Board in
a letter not to rule that American Airlines and TWA are a single
carrier until the seniority issue is resolved.
If the Mediation Board grants a request by American's pilots to
declare American and TWA a single carrier, a majority of TWA's
pilots would be put on the bottom of the airline's new seniority
list.