Tulsa Gaining AA Maintenance

By D.R. Stewart, Tulsa World, Okla.

Jul. 29–American Airlines will move maintenance of its Boeing 777 airplanes from its Alliance Airport base in Fort Worth to the Tulsa Maintenance & Engineering Center in the fall, company executives say.

The shift of work, the details of which are not complete, is intended to balance the loss of maintenance and repair work in Tulsa on Boeing MD-80s and Airbus A300s, two planes being phased out by American.

Company spokesman John Hotard said it is premature to estimate the effect of the aircraft maintenance shift on staffing levels at Alliance, Tulsa and Kansas City, Mo., its three principal maintenance bases.

Alliance employs 1,700 aircraft mechanics and related work groups, Tulsa has 5,800 mechanics, and Kansas City’s work force totals 700.

"The key here is that we really can’t talk about ‘movement of work’ and jobs in the same breath, because today I may tell you what moves from A to B, and tomorrow I may tell you what moves from B to C, and next week I may tell you what moves from C back to A," Hotard said in an e-mail. "So, until we do all of that, we will not know what work will be at each base, and thus what the head count will be at each

base.

"And it could be a few weeks or so before we are finished with the Work Reallocation Plan for the three bases."

In May, CEO Gerard Arpey said the company would retire more than 75 aircraft and reduce seating capacity by 8 percent after Labor Day to cope with soaring fuel prices. The airline also said it may have to cut up to 6,800 jobs, including up to 1,300 mechanics and related positions.

American’s precarious financial position was underscored two weeks ago when parent company AMR Corp. reported a second-quarter loss of $1.4 billion. Much of the loss stemmed from a one-time, non-cash write-down of the value of its aircraft and routes related to high fuel costs.

The results marked AMR’s third consecutive quarterly loss after six consecutive profitable three-month periods.

In a letter he sent to mechanics at all three bases Friday, Fred Cleveland, American’s vice president of base maintenance, said the company estimates there will be job cuts at Alliance, Tulsa and Kansas City.

American has offered early-retirement incentive plans to mechanics, pilots and flight attendants to lessen the impact of mandatory job cuts.

AMR shares closed Monday at $8, down 53 cents or 6.2 percent. More than 15.3 million shares were traded.

D.R. Stewart 581-8451 don.stewart@tulsaworld.com

—–

To see more of the Tulsa World, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.tulsaworld.com.

Copyright (c) 2008, Tulsa World, Okla.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

NYSE:AMR, NYSE:BA,