Furloughes at American
 

Had a few of my friends that were recently recalled saying the possibility of furloughes at American to be decided within the next 4-6 weeks.

Anyone to confirm or deny this ??

Hopefully, this was just a rumor that grew legs, and has not substance to it.

FF

Hopefully its not true. But if it is... they would be furloughing the same guys who just came back to class in the last few months after being on a long furlough.

Very true statement U-Akro. I was offered recall a few months ago at American after being furloughed since July 2003.

Flifast

I would assume that after reducing their schedule by 11-12% that furloughs would be a probability.

Hope not.

Man I sure hope not. We have an instuctor that is 2cd from the bottom and patiently waiting his recall. I can't imagine how depressing getting furloughed before getting recalled would be.:(

As American retires md-80's and takes delivery of 737's there is bound to be a training bubble, which should keep most people on the property, at least for a while.

737 is supposed to replace gas guzzling MD80s... that seemed like a good choice with last years fuel prices. Not sure if the 737 can hang with todays fuel prices and some of the new fuel efficient jets on the drawing boards.

If they did furlough again, by the time they actually hire off the street the youngest person on property is going to be in their 40's.(speculative guess)

heck, the new hires that will fill the first class at AA havent been born yet!

The actual American draw down (non eagle) is roughly 6%.

Here is a letter from one of our ORD chairs.

Fellow Chicago Pilots,

I am sure by now you have heard or read about American Airlines' response to the record high oil price and the unstable U.S. airline industry. As was announced on Wednesday, AMR is reducing domestic capacity by 11 percent at both American Airlines and American Eagle, and is looking at increasing international flying.

A quick overview of AMR’s announcement:

--Delivery of 70 737-800s in the next 30 months

--34 in 2009

--36 in 2010

--Up to 42 MD-80s parked. These aircraft were scheduled for replacement in 2009

--At least 3 Airbus parked and possibly more going forward

--35 to 40 RJ and turboprops parked


The parking of these aircraft will equate to 6 percent of the domestic capacity. Management also said that this could result in employee reductions and facility closures. By mid-June, management will solidify the number of employee reductions, facility closures and schedule adjustments.

So what does this mean to the Chicago pilots?

American is short some 200 pilots going into the summer season, and the plan is to make it work short-staffed through the summer. And as we start a “training bubble” with the arrival of more 737s and unknown pilot retirements, going forward it is unlikely American will furlough any pilots.

American is looking into reducing city pairs that are unprofitable and unfortunately, ORD has many city pairs that are unprofitable. It does appear that ORD will have a greater percentage of city pairs that will be cut. How this will affect the number of jobs at ORD on the MD-80 going forward is unknown at this time.

Right now, the plan is to reintroduce the 737 to ORD sometime in 2009, and with the announcement of the possibility of more international flights, my hope is that ORD base will remain the same size or possibly increase.

So where do we go from here?

As pilots, we have no control over of the current economic conditions, U.S. foreign policy, lack of a U.S. energy policy, AMR’s lack of a fuel hedge, inefficient aircraft, airline reliability and an economically unstable airline industry.

What we do have control over is making sure that we continue to do what the pilots at American Airlines do best -- taking care of the crew and passengers and safely and comfortable flying them from Point A to Point B.

As a union, we have control over our preparation for the certainty of the uncertainty of this industry. APA has retained Miller Buckfire, a highly creditable merger and acquisition firm (which, coincidently, AMR looked at retaining back in 2002). In addition, APA has created a trust to pay the legal fees incurred in merging seniority lists, if AMR were to merge in the future. Preparation is vital to assure that the pilots of American Airlines do not get put into a position in which we have to make rushed decisions. The APA leadership has prepared and will continue to prepare for the industry volatility.

Mr. Arpey stated this past Wednesday he believes in paying top dollar for top talent. We at APA believe that concept also holds true for the pilots of American Airlines and are committed to restoring our profession.

Enjoy this Memorial Day weekend with family and friends, for those who have to work and be away from your family, I thank you.

Fly Safe and take care of one another!