This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@juno.com. American Airlines to Cut 7,000 Jobs August 13, 2002 By REUTERS Filed at 8:10 a.m. ET CHICAGO (Reuters) - American Airlines, the world's largest air carrier which is still losing huge amounts of money nearly a year after the Sept. 11 hijackings, said on Tuesday it will cut another 7,000 jobs by March 2003 and shrink its operation by retiring aircraft and cutting back more flights. American, a unit of Dallas/Fort Worth-based AMR Corp. (AMR.N), said on its Web site it plans among other measures to retire 74 costly Fokker 100 aircraft and defer 35 aircraft deliveries in 2002. It said it will ``seek every opportunity'' to defer or cancel new deliveries going forward. American's cutbacks come two days after the No. 6 U.S. carrier, US Airways Group Inc. (U.N), filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. That renewed fears that UAL Corp. (UAL.N), the parent of No. 2 carrier United Airlines, might also file for bankruptcy as travelers continue to shun air travel after Sept. 11. The industry has lost over $10 billion since the attacks and the bleeding shows no signs of stopping. Citing recent economic and consumer confidence reports, American said it aims to reduce capacity by nine percent by November, compared with summer 2002. As of March, American had 101,706 employees. CUTBACKS FOLLOW THE ATTACKS After the attacks on New York and Washington, which involved two American Airlines planes, AMR laid off about 20 percent of its staff and cut back capacity by 20 percent as well, moving in step with most other major U.S. airlines. As part of the new capacity reduction, American said it will accelerate the retirement of nine Boeing (BA.N) 767-300 aircraft to November 2002. The new moves, along with those already implemented, will save more than $1.1 billion annually, the airline said. American has ``undertaken both long-term structural change and measures responsive to current industry conditions,'' said Chairman and Chief Executive Donald Carty in the statement. Carty said the initiatives are focused on cutting costs and improving profitability. AMR lost $1.8 billion in 2001 and another $1.1 billion in the first half of this year. The initiatives announced on Tuesday will increase efficiencies at American's largest hub at Dallas/Fort Worth by utilizing people, gates and aircraft more productively, simplifying its fleet and adjusting capacity for the fall and winter, the company said in its release. FINESSING THE FLEET Cutting aircraft types will reduce the fleet to seven different aircraft models from 14. The first F100 will leave the fleet in the third quarter of 2003 and the last plane will retire by the third quarter of 2005. The planned job cuts will realign American's workforce with the planned fall capacity reductions, fleet simplification and hub restructurings. Workers affected by the cuts will communicate specific job reduction impacts internally to the affected workgroups and locations. AMR stock closed at $8.36 on Monday after hitting its lowest level since the attacks, $8.15, earlier in the day. The stock has lost 62 percent in 2003 and is far from its peak of $85.59 which it hit in July 1998. American's news follows the interim approval on Monday of emergency financing for US Airways, allowing the carrier to access $75 million immediately to keep flying through September while it attempts to reorganize under bankruptcy protection. US Airways sought bankruptcy protection on Sunday. http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business/business-airlines-american-cuts.html?ex=1030244078&ei=1&en=5530b9c7fadd1e6f HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact onlinesales@nytimes.com or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@nytimes.com. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company