AMR Starts Cutting Management, Supports Staff

The parent company of American Airlines has begun laying off management and support staff, including positions at its Tulsa maintenance base, according to sources Tuesday.

Fort Worth, Texas-based AMR Corp. has said it is letting go of 1,400 management and support jobs company-wide as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. An American spokesman did not know how many of those losses would be in Tulsa.

AMR CEO Tom Horton previously said that the company’s entire management structure, from the top down, will be redesigned as part of the Chapter 11 process.

American Airlines is trying to trim $3.1 billion in annual costs, including $1.25 billion in labor expenses. The cuts could include more than 2,600 jobs of more than 7,000 positions at the Tulsa base.

The union layoffs have not begun. American and its union began negotiations this week after giving sides in bankruptcy court arguments in New York. Two segments of the Transport Workers Union already has rejected what AMR called its “best and final” contract offer last month.

Federal Judge Sean Lane will make a decision on those labor cuts June 22 if the two sides don’t come to an agreement.