Infrastructure

Home page

Infrastructure

American Airlines announces 13,000 job cuts

02 February 2012 09:22 (UTC +04:00)

Baku - APA-Economics. The parent company of American Airlines (AA) says it will shed 13,000 jobs - around 15% of its workforce.

AA’s parent, AMR, wants to cut staff costs by 20% in a bid to reduce spending by $2bn (Â£1.26, 1.52bn euros) and raise revenue by $1bn a year. AMR, which filed for bankruptcy protection in November, also wants to make changes to its staff pensions.

The 88,000 strong workforce is mostly represented by three main unions, which are opposed to the changes. AMR said it plans to begin negotiations with the three unions shortly. AMR lost $884m in the first nine months of 2011, and on Tuesday disclosed a $904m loss for December alone. The company has lost more than $11bn since 2001.

AMR’s chief executive, Thomas W Horton said in a letter to employees: "We are going to use the restructuring process to make the necessary changes to meet our challenges head-on and capitalize fully on the solid foundation we’ve put in place."