Also Will Not Discuss Any More Reductions

Compared to some other mainline carriers, business is booming at American Airlines. The carrier managed to avoid the bankruptcies that plagued its competitors the past several years... ticket prices are up... and its planes are full. Oh, and the airline has also managed to post a profit for the past two quarters.

All of that has helped American's future outlook appear pretty good... and pilots for the world's largest carrier say they want a piece of that pie.

Bloomberg reports the Allied Pilots Association -- the labor group for pilots at American -- unanimously approved a contract proposal this week that would tie in a part of their wages to future profits at the carrier.

The 13,000-member-strong union is now in contract talks with American... and in the words of spokesman Gregg Overman, pilots are looking for far better terms than what they have now.

"We see a favorable trend financially, and we don't want there to be any confusion about what we intend to seek as we go forward in these talks," said Overman. "We're looking for substantial improvement over what we have now."

Overman declined to discuss specifics of the union's plans. Employees at American approved $1.8 billion in annual pay and benefit cuts in 2003 to help the carrier avoid bankruptcy, with the pilots union accepting $660 million in cuts.

The union also adopted a resolution saying it refuses to hold any more talks with American management on pay and benefit cuts.

Over at American, management tells the pilots to be careful... and, there are no guarantees the airline will see sustained profitability down the line.

"We have made good progress, and we still have a ways to go to achieve our goal of sustained profitability," said American spokeswoman Sue Gordon. "We are still at a competitive disadvantage compared to our peers in a number of different areas."

FMI: www.apa.org, www.aa.com