Eagle Pilots: Sale of American Eagle Could Mean the End of Service in Several Cities

    EULESS, Texas, Dec. 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Eagle
 pilots' union, a unit of the Air Line Pilots Association, Int'l., today
 said that November's sale announcement of American Eagle Airlines by AMR
 Corp. could cause the elimination of "point-to-point" service between
 several popular destinations. It appears that certain American Eagle
 flights to and from Dallas-Love Field, Kansas City, Raleigh-Durham, San
 Jose, and Santa Ana-Orange County could be eliminated due to the current
 contract between American Airlines and its pilots that prohibits
 independent carriers from flying those routes for American Airlines.
 
 
 
     "American Airlines spokesmen have suggested that the flying public will
 see little if no change in service as a result of a sale," said Captain
 Herb Mark, chairman of the American Eagle pilots' union. "At the same time,
 Eagle President Peter Bowler has told his employees that flying may be
 shifted to other destinations due to 'restrictions on flying of non-wholly
 owned regional partners.' This is just another example of the lack of any
 strategic vision or coordination over the sale of this airline. It's been
 more than two weeks since the sale announcement, and we are still waiting
 to be briefed by management on a business strategy or rationale for
 divesting American Eagle."
 
 
 
     In a recent document distributed to American Eagle employees, Mr.
 Bowler referred to a section of the collective bargaining agreement between
 American Airlines and its pilots' union, the Allied Pilots Association that
 requires all flights that do not fly to or from an American Airlines hub to
 be flown by a wholly-owned carrier of AMR. American Eagle currently is
 wholly owned by AMR but if American Eagle is divested, a number of those
 flights would no longer be operated. A point-to-point flight is one that
 does not begin or end in an American Airlines "hub" and represents
 approximately 250 of American Eagle's 1,700 daily flights.
 
 
 
     "Such a change would represent a significant contractual concession by
 the Allied Pilots Association, and in light of massive management bonuses
 while simultaneously demanding pilot pay cuts, it does not appear that AA
 pilots are in the mood to give concessions," Capt. Mark said.
 
 
 
     ALPA believes the motivation for the sale by AMR is to try to reduce
 pilot costs, as well as to use American Eagle as a pawn in contract
 negotiations between American and its pilots' union. The pilot unions
 believed they had reached an agreement with American Airlines and American
 Eagle on a plan that would have significantly reduced costs and benefited
 both pilot groups. At the last minute, management negotiators terminated
 the agreement, and the sale announcement followed a few weeks later.
 
 
 
     "We had an agreement that was a win for everyone involved," said Capt.
 Mark. "Now everyone loses, including our valued customers in California,
 Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina, who are likely to lose quality,
 convenient air service."
 
 
 
     Founded in 1931 ALPA is the world's largest pilot union representing
 more than 60,000 pilots at 42 airlines in the U.S. and Canada. With more
 than 3,000 pilots, American Eagle is a wholly owned subsidiary of AMR
 (NYSE:  AMR) and provides feed to American Airlines as well as point-to-point
 service in North and Central America and the Caribbean.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

SOURCE Air Line Pilots Association, International