AA grapples with retirement-related flight cancellations

[Omaha Steve]

http://blogs.usatoday.com/sky/2008/02/aa-pilots.html

By Ben Mutzabaugh

A raft of pilot retirements that appear to have left American Airlines short-staffed for some February remained in the headlines over the weekend. The Tulsa World writes AA "has canceled 52 domestic and long-haul international flights in February following the early retirement of 143 senior pilots, company executives said Friday." The Dallas Morning News (free registration) says "the cancellations amount to 26 round-trips, including four round-trips between Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Tokyo." Other affected routes include Chicago-London and New York-Tokyo.

Still, the number of scrubbed flights apparently could have been higher. The World says AA "avoided additional cancellations by moving 250 management-level flight instructors and check airmen into American cockpits," according to AA spokeswoman Tami McLallen. Pilots union officials say that move only proves that the carrier must hire more pilots. "If you send management pilots back to the line, that's an indication that you don't have enough line pilots," union spokesman Gregg Overman says to the Chicago Tribune (free registration). "Every retirement for the next five years is going to be an early retirement. We are in uncharted territory, but there's no slack so I would expect this to keep happening," he adds to the World.

The Tribune points out AA "is the third major airline to grapple with pilot shortages over the past year as U.S. carriers stretch staffing in a bid to lower costs. United Airlines was forced to cancel flights as storms depleted its pilot reserves in December, and Northwest Airlines struggled to man its planes during peak travel periods last summer." As for AA, the Tribune says the large number of retirements stemmed from a market-based contract quirk that allowed pilots to receive a bigger package by retiring early. Pilots with 30 years of service to AA would make gain about $300,000 by doing so, AA's pilots union tells the Tribune. Still, despite the cancellations, AA officials point out to the Morning News that they represent just a small portion of the carrier's 63,000 flights scheduled for February.

[WhiteTara]

1. I don't fly AA...Not since they left the baggage door open

and the thought of having management pilots flying makes me want to stay away from the airspace altogether!