American Eagle's Future Will Soon Be Clearer For Employees
March 20--Workers at American Eagle will get a clearer picture of the regional airline's future Wednesday when the airline meets with unions to discuss its restructuring plans.
At these meetings, American Eagle executives are expected to ask for concessions from its labor unions. American Eagle's parent company, Fort Worth-based AMR Corp., filed for bankruptcy in November.
"We will be making presentations to them and then we will have meetings in the afternoon with each of the three to present term sheets and information," spokesman Bruce Hicks said.
American Eagle has about 260 planes, mostly regional jets with fewer than 70 seats, and 13,000 workers. Eagle's pilots are represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, and its flight attendants are represented by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA.
According to a Friday negotiations update by the Transport Workers Union, which represents mechanics and ground workers, "American Eagle will present its 1113 'ask' to TWU and the other labor unions on Wednesday morning."
On Feb. 1, AMR told its unionized employees at American Airlines that it needed $1.25 billion in concessions and proposed laying off 13,000 workers, shutting down its Alliance maintenance facility and changing its pension plans.
In Chapter 11, labor contracts can be altered under Section 1113 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. AMR has not filed any motions with the bankruptcy court seeking to modify agreements with its workers and is still in negotiations with its American Airlines unions.
Bill Swelbar, an airline researcher with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said it will be difficult for AMR executives to have meaningful discussions with its Eagle unions because it has not reached agreements with its mainline pilots.
"This entire restructuring begins and ends with [pilot] scope because we don't know what American's network is going to look like. We don't know what airplanes it's going to fly," Swelbar said. "My guess is Eagle is going to be busy negotiating rates on airplanes that they don't have permission to fly today but will likely fly tomorrow."
AMR has said publicly that it would like its mainline pilots to fly more regional jets instead of using third-party airlines or American Eagle on certain domestic routes.
Swelbar added that he does not expect significant layoffs to be announced Wednesday and that Eagle may become more attractive to potential buyers as a standalone airline after AMR goes through bankruptcy restructuring.
The fate of American Eagle has been in limbo for years. AMR had initially announced plans to sell it or spin it off in 2007 but pulled it off the market when the recession hit.
AMR put Eagle back on the market in 2010 and had planned to divest it in the fall, but those plans were put on hold when AMR filed for bankruptcy.
Andrea Ahles, 817-390-7631
Twitter: @Sky_Talk
Copyright 2012 - Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas
