SFO, BOS, DCA all vanish? Perhaps sets the table nicely for a merger with someone who either is strong in one of those cities (LCC in DCA if this swap with DL goes through), or doesn't value those cities (the list is too long, to include AA). Obviously, wouldn't wish the angst of a SLI on anyone.

Sorry to hear the 4.3 million folks in the SFO area, including the AA locals, are losing the base.:(

True. A letter is posted from the cp on the company website, sorry to say.

My guess is no (additional) pilot furloughs since recalls of previous furloughees are on-going (albeit at a trickle) and the f'd up company is reeling from the recent mass of pilot retirements. Regarding the threat of furlough, other employees groups are what they are referring to, I think.

Nice of AMR to name the greedy pilots and their unjust retirements as the reason for the capacity reduction, and assumed upcoming furlough of other employee groups. Spreads a little more hate and discontent amongst the employees, which is always nice, especially as the holidays approach.

How does that harm the 4.3M people in SFO exactly?

Wait...is the airport dropping into the Bay? Without AA, who will serve San Francisco? This is tragic.

That thought has crossed my mind.

Richard is ruthless and BA is his archenemy.
Putting a big dent into AA and their portion of OneWorld would definitely hurt BA's Americas operation.
VX put a lot of capacity into AA hubs lately (ORD, DFW)

Its perhaps a little more than just coincidence.
Virgin America does seem to have limitless access to cash

Cheers
George

How many AA pilots are in the SFO base? Will they migrate to the LAX base? How about BOS and DC? Which base is the most junior at AA?

Gee, I wonder where I've seen this movie before....:eek:

My guess is that pilot furloughs will be dependent on the health of the retirement fund. When it gets below 80% lump sums are cut off, and retirements will slow dramatically. If the fund stays above 80% and retirements continue, no furloughs.

At my company we closed two bases leading up to Bk (DFW and MCO). If you see mid-level and "star" senior managers leave, you know they're headed for the courts. If not, expect a "do it once" (meaning do it twice) attempt at restructuring that is extremely painful.

Look at boyd's website. Aviationplanning.com. AA in SFO is a victim of the star alliance. Star owns something like 45% of SFO traffic.

An early warning sign to watch for is the establishment of special "bankruptcy-proof" pensions (at DAL they were called SERPs), for senior executives. These are usually touted as "necessary to retain top talent" (who demonstrate their talent by taking the money and vanishing). :rolleyes: