All Three Bases Should Expect Cuts

What's good for Tulsa is bad for Fort Worth... and may not prove to be so great for Tulsa, either, in the long run. American Airlines said Monday it will relocate maintenance operations for its fleet of Boeing 777s from its Texas headquarters, as part of a long-term plan to trim its operations in a desperate  attempt to save cash.

The Associated Press reports American's Tulsa, OK maintenance base will now handle the bulk of 777 maintenance work, at the expense of jobs at its base at Fort Worth's Alliance Airport (FTW). The new duties will help ease the sting from the loss of Tulsa jobs tied to maintaining Airbus A300s, which American plans to retire from its fleet by the end of the year.

It's not a complete wash, however. Tulsa is also the major maintenance depot for American's erstwhile fleet of McDonnell-Douglas MD-81 and MD-82 airliners... another type the carrier is moving to replace as quickly as possible, due to their high fuel consumption relative to newer planes.

Fleetwide cutbacks will likely spell trouble for all three of American's US maintenance bases, said spokesman John Hotard. The airline is presently sorting  out where to cut jobs from among American's facilities in Fort Worth, Tulsa, and Kansas City, MO.

"Until we do all of that, we will not know final head count at each base," Hotard said. "And this could be another month or so."

American currently employs roughly 5,800 union workers in Tulsa, 1,700 at FTW, and 700 in Kansas City, in addition to management and support staff. The airline has already notified its unions to expect the elimination of 1,300 mechanics' jobs, plus another 200 tied to management.

FMI: www.aa.com