NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — American Airlines told its unions today it plans to cut 13 000 jobs from the staff of 88 000 at the nation’s No. 3 airline.
The cuts will fall most heavily on the airline’s maintenance operations, which will lose 4 600 jobs. More than 4,000 additional ground worker jobs will be eliminated, as will 2,300 flight attendant jobs.
//
Management will be reduced by 1 400 employees, with the most narrow cut coming among pilots and first officers, which will only see a reduction of 400
Thomas Horton, CEO of American Air parent AMR Corp, said in a letter to American employees, “We will end this journey with many fewer people. But we will also preserve tens of thousands of jobs that would have been lost if we had not embarked on this path.”
Horton said the company needs to save more than $1.25 billion annually in labour costs, and reduce costs in each work group, including management, by 20%. To try to cushion the blow of those cuts, it is offering employees a profit sharing plan.
