Latest from the MEC. Now they're talking about AMR maintaining possession of the aircraft after divestiture and extending travel benefits to all divested employees for five years.
That doesn't sound good.
American Eagle Airlines
MEC Hotline
03/25/11
1. Update on Potential Divestiture of American Eagle
This week, the AMR Board of Directors met. One of the topics of discussion was the potential divestiture of American Eagle. Although the Board has yet to authorize the divestiture of American Eagle, we believe they will be in a position to do so shortly. The MEC is now operating with the expectation that a decision to divest could come as early as May.
Therefore, ALPA and company negotiators met this week to continue working on a ‘longevity initiative,’ a comprehensive plan to assist pilots who would like to transition to mainline carriers in doing so. This May, the final group of flow-through pilots who received a ‘make whole’ remedy (i.e., third or fourth year pay step at AA, retroactive B-fund contributions, etc.) will transfer to AA. Seventy-five percent of those who were offered the ‘make whole’ remedy accepted transfer to AA. That has provided for us a recent historical statistic from which to determine the types of elements that may make it possible for high longevity pilots to make the transition given their current life situation.
Once we have finalized a draft ‘longevity initiative,’ and now that our competitors have reported their 2010 financials, we will reevaluate Eagle’s competitive position in anticipation of our April MEC meeting. We are also continuing to move forward on the legal front by challenging AMR’s expressed desire to take ownership of Eagle’s aircraft prior to a divestiture. The MEC will be briefed on all of these subjects at the April meeting.
In addition, management announced today that they have reached an agreement with American Airlines to continue travel benefits for American Eagle employees exactly as they are today for a period of five years beginning at the time of divestiture.
The next all-pilot teleconference will be held on Friday, April 8th, at 1:00 p.m. Central Time. We appreciate all of the pilots who sacrificed their personal time to join last week’s teleconference and will continue to host them on a regular basis until there is some resolution to the question of Eagle’s future ownership structure.