American Airlines to Reduce Management, Support Ranks 8%

By Terry Maxon, The Dallas Morning News

Jun. 26–American Airlines Inc. has informed its management and support employees that it will need to reduce their ranks by about 8 percent.

That reduction is in line with the 7 to 8 percent slash in capacity planned for American’s flying in late 2008.

“While the reductions will vary by department, they will generally be in line with the capacity reduction of approximately 8 percent from the 2008 Plan,” American senior vice president of human resources Jeff Brundage told employees in a letter. “Reductions should be completed within the month of September.”

Mr. Brundage said each department will be able to decide whether to offer other ways to reduce its payroll costs 8 percent without involuntary layoffs, such as programs to have people volunteer for severance packages or for extended leaves.

An American spokesman declined to put a number on the actual number of jobs to be eliminated, with the flexibility in how department implement the cuts to affect the total layoffs.

American announced May 21 that it was reducing its flying in response to skyrocketing prices for jet fuel. The bulk of the capacity reductions will hit American’s domestic system, where it expects to fly 11 to 12 percent less capacity in the fourth quarter than in the same period of 2007.

The latest estimate from American parent AMR Corp. is that American and regional subsidiary American Eagle will spent $10.15 billion on jet fuel in 2008, up more than 50 percent from 2007′s fuel bill of $6.67 billion.

On Wednesday, the airline outlined a series of flight cuts at its connecting hubs in Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Chicago and St. Louis and at New York LaGuardia Airport.

The airline has not spelled out the job cuts planned for frontline people at the airports, maintenance bases and among pilots and flight attendants.

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