United Airlines is also jettisoning 140 front-line workers and mechanics even though the industry appears to be recovering after two years of tumult that prompted U.S. carriers to park planes and sharply reduce flying.

American Airlines executives told analysts Wednesday that business travel was starting to rebound and predicted that its capacity would increase slightly in 2010.

Those pilots losing their jobs in the latest round of layoffs at American had just rejoined the Texas-based airline in February 2009 after a six-year absence, according to Dennis Tajer, an American pilot and spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association.

The pilots had previously been furloughed in June 2003, and many had left promising jobs to resume their careers at American, the nation’s second-largest carrier, Tajer added.

The Allied Pilots Association was notified of the pending job cuts Thursday night and was told that management intends to furlough about 130 active pilots, although the total could be up to 160 pilots.

American currently has 1,887 pilots on furlough, about half of whom previously had been employed by Trans World Airlines and lost their jobs after American merged with TWA in 2001.

American’s workforce shrank by 11.3 percent to 66,500 workers between 2005 and November 2009, the most recent month for which employment data is available, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

jjohnsson@tribune.com

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Leading the opposition to a JAL-Delta tie-up: American Airlines. “We would object vigorously,” American CEO Gerard Arpey told analysts and reporters during an earnings conference call Wednesday. “It would be a very unwise course for them.”

Texas-based American would lose a long-time partner in JAL, which links American’s passengers to a host of cities within Japan and northern Asia, and would find itself a bit player in the northern Pacific market.

American is still trying to gain antitrust immunity to share flying and revenues with British Airways across the Atlantic, an effort that has stretched over 13 years. Regulators have repeatedly questioned the competitive fall-out from allowing the two largest trans-Atlantic players to team up.

Although American expects to finally prevail in its cause, Arpey ridiculed the notion that Delta and JAL could quickly gain antitrust approval for a venture that would control about 60 percent of the market. “It would make a farce of the whole process,” he said.

Arpey insisted that JAL, which filed for bankruptcy on Tuesday, had not yet finalized a deal with Delta and its SkyTeam global marketing alliance, despite widespread reports to the contrary.

American continues to hold talks with the embattled Japanese carrier, which is laden with billions of dollars in debt, as well as its banks and Japanese government officials overseeing the airline’s bail-out efforts.

Losing JAL would cost American more than $100 million in annual revenues, officials said, at a time when it is trying to turn the corner after reporting heavy losses in 2009. AMR Corp. lost $344 million in the fourth quarter and nearly $1.5 billion for all of 2009 as traffic fell and many business travelers stayed home or bought cheaper tickets in the weak economy.

Excluding special items, including a tax gain, AMR said Wednesday it would have lost $415 million, or $1.25 per share, in the fourth quarter. Analysts, who usually exclude items from their calculations, expected a loss of $1.23 per share.

American officials insisted that they haven’t given up hope on retaining their current relationship with JAL, but noted their cause had been complicated as the airline and government officials have signaled that they are no longer interested in garnering foreign investment in the carrier.

American and its partners had offered to provide $2 billion in investment and other incentives to keep JAL in their OneWorld global alliance.

If the Japanese carrier defects to OneWorld, American will look to forge closer ties with other carriers in the region, officials said. When its longer-range Boeing 787s arrive in the next few years, American will have the option of ignoring Japan and focusing on emerging markets such as China.

If it loses, American is almost certain to reduce flights to Japan, potentially leaving Chicago consumers with less service to Asia’s largest market. American currently operates one daily non-stop from O’Hare to Tokyo’s Narita, as does JAL. The Japanese carrier would be likely to shift that service to one of Delta’s hubs, analysts said.

“The fact is our ability to serve Japan will be extremely limited,” Will Ris, American’s senior vice-president for government affairs, told the Tribune last month. “We have a significant number of passengers on our flights today who are connecting through Tokyo on Japan Airlines. We’ll lose a lot of passengers and therefore could not sustain the level of service that we provide today.”

AMR lost a total of $1.47 billion in 2009, or $4.99 per share, compared with a loss of $2.12 billion, or $8.16 per share, in 2008. Revenue tumbled 16.2 percent to $19.92 billion, as $3.85 billion in revenue vanished with slow demand for travel.

However, the second-largest U.S. carrier is starting to see signs of a rebound. Business travel was up during the fourth quarter, while the media frenzy over the “underwear bomber” on Dec. 25 didn’t prompt any appreciable drop in passenger bookings, executives said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

jjohnsson@tribune.com

Read the original article from Tribune News Services.

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The Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs (IDVA) partnered with American Airlines to host a Helping Our Hometown Heroes Veterans’ resource fair at American Airlines offices at O’Hare Airport last week.

More than 150 American Airlines employees who are also military veterans participated in the resource fair, which assists Veterans in receiving information from federal, state and local organizations about the benefits they deserve and have earned.

At least 10 percent of American Airlines’ employees in Chicago are veterans, according to Linda Kozma, chair of Americans’ Veteran Military Employee Resource Group.

“The Helping Our Hometown Heroes events are a great opportunity for our Veterans and their families to receive one-on-one assistance from professionals who know the resources available to help take care of our servicemembers,” Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs Director Dan Grant said.

“We were pleased to partner with American Airlines to provide this information for their employees, which include a significant population of Veterans.”

The Helping Our Hometown Heroes event ran from 10am to 3pm, Friday, Nov. 20 at American Airlines offices, and included informational booths, presentations, and one-on-one assistance from experts in a variety of areas including healthcare, employment, housing, education, and more.

In addition to IDVA, nearly a dozen federal, state and local agencies and organizations from throughout Cook County participated in the event including:

• Illinois State Treasurer’s Office
• Illinois Troops to Teachers
• DeVry University
• Cook County Board of Review
• Illinois Secretary of State’s office
• and the U.S. Office of Housing and Urban Development

“This was a very successful event,” Kozma said.

“Roughly 10 percent of our workforce is veterans or active military, so our employees really appreciated the outreach and the useful information, and the participation was outstanding. IDVA is providing great resources for veterans in our community.”

IDVA hosts Helping Our Hometown Heroes events at locations statewide.  All local Veterans, family members, friends and neighbors are welcome and encouraged to attend.

For more information about setting up a Helping Our Hometown Heroes event in your community, please visit the IDVA website at veterans.illinois.gov.

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American Airlines, a founding member of the oneworld® Alliance, will begin its new service from Chicago O’Hare International Airport to Beijing Capital International Airport on April 26, 2010.

The first return flight from Beijing to Chicago will launch on April 27, 2010. American is moving the start date up for its new service by a few days from its previously scheduled May 1 launch date.

“We decided to reschedule our inaugural flights so visitors who want to attend China’s International Labor Day activities on May 1 can do so by flying to Beijing on American Airlines,” said Loretta Kuss, American’s Director – Chicago Passenger Sales.

“We believe this slight change in our schedule will provide greater customer benefits and we are happy to make the change.”

American will offer daily nonstop service to Beijing using its widebody Boeing 777 aircraft, which feature three classes of service, accommodating 14 First Class passengers, 37 Business Class passengers, and 194 Economy Class passengers.

Here is the schedule for American’s new service between Chicago and Beijing:

    From Chicago to Beijing:
    AA 187     Departs: 11:15 a.m.    Arrives: 1:45 p.m. (next day)

    From Beijing to Chicago
    AA 186     Departs: 3:50 p.m.     Arrives: 3:40 p.m. (same day)

The new Beijing flight complements American’s nonstop daily service from Chicago to Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport, which began in April 2006.

From May 1 to Oct. 31, 2010, many travelers to China may be attending the Shanghai World Expo 2010.

In its Summer 2010 schedule, American and American Eagle will offer 487 daily departures to more than 100 cities from its second largest hub at O’Hare.

The schedule provides easy and convenient connections, particularly from the East Coast, to both American flights to China.

About American Airlines

American Airlines, American Eagle and AmericanConnection® serve 250 cities in 40 countries with, on average, more than 3,400 daily flights.

The combined network fleet numbers more than 900 aircraft. American’s award-winning Web site, AA.com®, provides users with easy access to check and book fares, plus personalized news, information and travel offers.

American Airlines is a founding member of the oneworld® Alliance, which brings together some of the best and biggest names in the airline business, enabling them to offer their customers more services and benefits than any airline can provide on its own.

Together, its members serve nearly 700 destinations in more than 130 countries and territories. American Airlines, Inc. and American Eagle Airlines, Inc. are subsidiaries of AMR Corporation.

AmericanAirlines, American Eagle, AmericanConnection, AA.com, We know why you fly and AAdvantage are registered trademarks of American Airlines, Inc. (NYSE: AMR)

AmericanAirlines® We know why you fly®

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