Fate of American Airlines up in the air By Marilyn Adams and Dan Reed, USA TODAY American Airlines' parent AMR (AMR) agreed Tuesday to hold off on a bankruptcy court filing to give its flight attendants union another day to ratify contract concessions that will save the company $340 million a year. The Association of Professional Flight Attendants narrowly rejected the concessions Tuesday after the airline's other major unions ratified cost-saving contracts. AMR wants $1.8 billion a year in labor savings, which includes $200 million from non-union employees. The APFA will continue voting until 6 p.m. ET Wednesday. Yesterday's vote was 9,309 in favor of the concessions, 9,842 against and 462 votes ruled ineligible. American management was also said to be speaking with creditors about extending deadlines for large debt payments an extra day or two, to allow for a flight attendants' re-vote. On April 1, the company said it was taking advantage of 15-day grace periods on unspecified payments to creditors. The grace periods were to end Tuesday. Don Carty, AMR's chief executive, had earlier rejected the APFA's request to extend the company's deadline and insisted the voting results be announced by noon. Burning $5 million in cash a day, the airline threatened to file in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York as early as Tuesday afternoon if the unions didn't agree to slash the concessions package. Pressure around the voting was palpable. In Fort Worth, where American is based, TV news trucks were camped out in front of American's headquarters and at nearby union offices. In Miami, American's third-largest hub city, updates dominated news broadcasts. Following ratifications by some of the unions, AMR's share price jumped and ended up 32 cents to $3.40 after trading was supsended. The vote by American's pilots Tuesday was most decisive. About 69% of pilots voted to ratify $660 million a year in concessions. But votes by American's mechanics and ramp workers, represented by the Transport Workers Union (TWU), were close. About 52% of mechanics and related workers approved the concessions package. And about 54% of the TWU unit representing ramp workers, janitors, meteorologists and others voted yes. TWU employees were asked for $620 million a year in concessions. Flight attendants were asked for $340 million. "The past several weeks have been tremendously difficult for our pilots, and I would like to thank them for their willingness to contribute to the recovery of American Airlines," said John Darrah, the Allied Pilots Association president. "Clearly, the gut-wrenching decision our pilots have had to make will have a major impact on their lives." The voting took place against the backdrop of two other airline reorganizations. US Airways' employees took deep cuts in pay, benefits and pensions to get their airline out of Chapter 11. United Airlines is still in Chapter 11. United's pilots last week overwhelmingly approved concessions much greater than those asked of American's pilots: $1 billion a year for six years. Votes by other United unions are pending. *************************************************** 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.carstt.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************