Last month American and American Eagle announced a number of actions to help overcome near-term challenges and secure the companies' long-term futures. This includes significantly reducing flying and retiring a number of airplanes. Today American and Eagle announced schedule changes based on the capacity reductions that take effect in November. Previously announced (May 27) reductions will take effect in September. The changes, recapped below, are being made to reduce costs and create a more sustainable supply-and-demand balance in today's high fuel-cost environment.
"The U.S. airline industry, as it is constituted today, was not built for $125-plus per barrel oil," said CEO Gerard Arpey, "and it cannot and will not be sustained in its current state. It's clear given the trends in the price of fuel and the economy that we have a difficult economic road ahead of us. That said, we are always going to do our best by our people, while remaining mindful that we have to remain competitive to protect everyone's long-term future. Ultimately, if we're not competitive, we're really not protecting anybody's interest in the long run. In fact, we are jeopardizing their long-term future and their retirement."
When the capacity reductions were announced, the company said the changes will result in employee reductions at both American and American Eagle. "No one wants to hear this or do this," Arpey said. "But it's what we have to do to confront reality."
American and American Eagle are working though the specific employee impacts of the capacity reductions and will soon share more information with employees. While there is no company-wide timeline for layoffs, many employee reductions will be closely tied to when flying comes out of the schedule. Finalizing the November schedule is an important step in determining how many employees will be affected.
Based on these decisions, all departments are currently evaluating their operating requirements and are reviewing the impacts of the schedule reductions on their staffing needs. Each department will work out the timing that makes the best sense based on its own needs. Also, each department will decide whether voluntary programs like stand-in-stead and extended leaves will be incorporated into its plan.
Schedule Changes
American is reducing flights at all its principle operations, except Miami. This announcement, combined with the previously announced round of schedule reductions, means American will close its operations at three of its airports, while Eagle will close five of its airports, out of a combined total of 250 airports for both. The airports/cities being closed are:
American Oakland, Calif. (previously announced); London Stansted (previously announced); and Barranquilla, Colombia
American Eagle Albany, N.Y.; Providence, R.I.; Harrisburg, Pa.; Samana, Dominican Republic (previously announced); and San Luis Obispo, Calif. American Eagle will also close its maintenance base in San Luis Obispo
American plans to reduce its departures in Chicago by 28 flights with American Eagle reducing 34 departures. In St. Louis, American will reduce departures by eight flights with American Eagle and American Connections reducing 35 departures.
The company also has decided to eliminate five AA flights and 37 American Eagle regional jet departures at LaGuardia Airport. In addition to the expected costs savings, these changes, coupled with appropriate government action, could allow the airport to operate with less congestion and improve customer experience. Dependability and delay issues that exist at LaGuardia prevent airlines from operating cost effectively from this destination, but more importantly, they have a huge impact on all the overall customer service and performance of all airlines with any flights connecting to LaGuardia.
During the last five years, delays at LaGuardia (on both departures and arrivals) caused by Air Traffic Control have increased 50 percent and now occur on one out of every four departures, averaging more than one hour. Likewise, inbound delays have increased by 55 percent and occur on four out of every 10 arrivals, on average, delaying arrivals by 60 minutes. In addition, cancellations caused by Air Traffic Control are up 52.9 percent.
American has called for the FAA and the Department of Transportation to reduce the number of operations allowed at LaGuardia by 20 percent or approximately 15 operations per hour to help mitigate the congestion that causes flight delays at the airport.
Source: AA employee Newsletter
"The U.S. airline industry, as it is constituted today, was not built for $125-plus per barrel oil," said CEO Gerard Arpey, "and it cannot and will not be sustained in its current state. It's clear given the trends in the price of fuel and the economy that we have a difficult economic road ahead of us. That said, we are always going to do our best by our people, while remaining mindful that we have to remain competitive to protect everyone's long-term future. Ultimately, if we're not competitive, we're really not protecting anybody's interest in the long run. In fact, we are jeopardizing their long-term future and their retirement."
When the capacity reductions were announced, the company said the changes will result in employee reductions at both American and American Eagle. "No one wants to hear this or do this," Arpey said. "But it's what we have to do to confront reality."
American and American Eagle are working though the specific employee impacts of the capacity reductions and will soon share more information with employees. While there is no company-wide timeline for layoffs, many employee reductions will be closely tied to when flying comes out of the schedule. Finalizing the November schedule is an important step in determining how many employees will be affected.
Based on these decisions, all departments are currently evaluating their operating requirements and are reviewing the impacts of the schedule reductions on their staffing needs. Each department will work out the timing that makes the best sense based on its own needs. Also, each department will decide whether voluntary programs like stand-in-stead and extended leaves will be incorporated into its plan.
Schedule Changes
American is reducing flights at all its principle operations, except Miami. This announcement, combined with the previously announced round of schedule reductions, means American will close its operations at three of its airports, while Eagle will close five of its airports, out of a combined total of 250 airports for both. The airports/cities being closed are:
American Oakland, Calif. (previously announced); London Stansted (previously announced); and Barranquilla, Colombia
American Eagle Albany, N.Y.; Providence, R.I.; Harrisburg, Pa.; Samana, Dominican Republic (previously announced); and San Luis Obispo, Calif. American Eagle will also close its maintenance base in San Luis Obispo
American plans to reduce its departures in Chicago by 28 flights with American Eagle reducing 34 departures. In St. Louis, American will reduce departures by eight flights with American Eagle and American Connections reducing 35 departures.
The company also has decided to eliminate five AA flights and 37 American Eagle regional jet departures at LaGuardia Airport. In addition to the expected costs savings, these changes, coupled with appropriate government action, could allow the airport to operate with less congestion and improve customer experience. Dependability and delay issues that exist at LaGuardia prevent airlines from operating cost effectively from this destination, but more importantly, they have a huge impact on all the overall customer service and performance of all airlines with any flights connecting to LaGuardia.
During the last five years, delays at LaGuardia (on both departures and arrivals) caused by Air Traffic Control have increased 50 percent and now occur on one out of every four departures, averaging more than one hour. Likewise, inbound delays have increased by 55 percent and occur on four out of every 10 arrivals, on average, delaying arrivals by 60 minutes. In addition, cancellations caused by Air Traffic Control are up 52.9 percent.
American has called for the FAA and the Department of Transportation to reduce the number of operations allowed at LaGuardia by 20 percent or approximately 15 operations per hour to help mitigate the congestion that causes flight delays at the airport.
Source: AA employee Newsletter
