Airline chief asks employees to make sacrifices TULSA, Okla. (AP) =97 American Airlines faces unprecedented challenges that= =20 threaten its survival and employees will have to make sacrifices to make it= =20 a leaner company, American Chairman Donald J. Carty said. Speaking to 2,000= =20 of American's Tulsa employees Tuesday, Carty said the company must cut $4=20 billion in expenses a year to survive. He spoke last week to employees in=20 Dallas, Miami, Fla., and Chicago. Pilots, flight attendants and mechanics=20 have been asked for $1.8 billion in wage and benefit reductions. "Unlike=20 some of our competitors, the question is not whether this company is going= =20 to survive," Carty said. "There's no doubt in my mind that one way or=20 another, we're going to make it. I wouldn't have come to you and asked our= =20 employees to make the sacrifices you're being asked to make if I weren't=20 absolutely convinced that our plan will work and will lead us where we want= =20 and need our company to be =97 not just when the storm clouds have passed,= =20 but five years, 10 years, a generation from now, because American Airlines= =20 has always been in it for the long haul." The company has suffered from a weak economy that has reduced air travel,=20 the costs and fears of terrorism, the emergence of low-cost competitors,=20 rising fuel prices, technological changes, the impact of the Internet and=20 the war in Iraq. "Together we're creating a better, stronger company and a= =20 sleeker, smarter airline," Carty said. "We're changing what we fly, how we= =20 fly, and how we do business. Never have we faced a challenge this big =97= and=20 never have we attempted change on this scale." Competitors United Airlines, US Air and Hawaiian Airlines are in bankruptcy= =20 and several others, including American are on the brink. Carty said the=20 company has trimmed its fleet, reducing the variety of planes it flies=20 while simplifying maintenance and pilot training. It has adopted new ways=20 of distributing reservations and tickets and has trimmed its work force in= =20 all areas. "Going forward, we will build on American's strengths," Carty=20 said. "We will have a global network. We will have hub and spoke. We will=20 serve major cities and smaller markets, with big jets and small planes. We= =20 will offer premier service. And in doing these things, we'll be creating a= =20 new model =97 one that allows us to take the fight to the low-cost= carriers."=20 He said the company will continue to need its maintenance bases in Tulsa,=20 Fort Worth and Kansas City. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.thehummingbirdonline.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************