Over 100 Pilots Eligible For Early-Out

The possible retirements of over 100 pilots in February has prompted American Airlines to take several flights off its schedule for the month, according to representatives with the Fort Worth, TX-based airline and its pilots union.

"We have decided to proactively cancel a number of flights so as to provide minimal disruptions to our customers' travel plans," American spokeswoman Tami McLallen told The Tulsa World. "It's a very very small number of flights. And it's not about cost cutting; it's about retirements."

Not surprisingly, the Allied Pilots Association -- which represents over 9,000 pilots at American, and another 2,100 laid off or on furlough -- disputes that assertion, claiming the cancellations are due to overly-steep cost cuts by the airline.

"Time and again, the evidence has pointed to a pilot shortage at American Airlines," APA President Lloyd Hill said. "[February's] numerous flight cancellations are proof positive that management has failed to retain a sufficient number of pilots to staff the operation."

McLallen said American plans to cancel only one-tenth of one percent of its scheduled flights in February. That works out to about 76 flights, according to the World... though the spokeswoman also added "That number will likely go up when we have the total number of pilots who are actually retiring."

That may be optimistic, responds APA spokesman Scott Shankland... who said up to 150 pilots may retire on February 1, forcing the airline to cancel as many as 50 long-haul flights for the month. "It's hard to determine how many people will retire, but it's a contingency airline management should have been planning for," Shankland said. "They are managing this airline for fair weather operations because they have manned so thin."

McLallen believes the number of international flights cancelled will be closer to 28, as some pilots opt for early retirement. It's difficult to predict how many will opt for that route, however, and the decision is something of a gamble either way.

Pilots approaching 60 years of age who chose to retire Friday will be able to lock in a percentage of their benefits to the current value of American's stock, for a 90-day period, if they opt to retire now. That's a strong incentive for some pilots, who fear the airline's stock price will continue to plummet -- and McLallen admits several pilots have said they'll go that route, and get out while they can.

Other pilots, however, appear willing to stick it out, in the hopes the stock price goes higher. "Some pilots may think if they keep working, things may rebound," McLallen said. Also complicating matters is the recent passage of the Age 65 rule, allowing pilots to stay in the cockpit under certain conditions five years later than previously allowed.

As ANN reported, the flight performance tracking website Flightstats.com recently compiled a list of flights that were cancelled in 2007, ahead of the official numbers to be released by the Department of Transportation next month. According to that study, American cancelled 21,624 flights for the year, or 2.7 percent of its entire schedule.

That's more than any other network carrier, the World notes... and it's a figure Shankland believes shows how lean American is trying to run its operations, something that doesn't bode well for February.

"The company is going to be worrying about keeping their schedule intact," the APA spokesman said. "We're telling our pilots to be concerned about safety.

"It's the pilot's ultimate decision to take that flight," he added. "It's the pilot the FAA will come after, not the company."

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