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Sunday's Child - Nikolas
Canceled Flights Surge at American Airlines 9/18/12
Associated Press
September 18, 2012
Dallas Tx. - Flight cancelations have spiked at American Airlines, which is fighting with unhappy pilots.
Now, the Fort Worth-based carrier says it'll reduce flights at least partly because of staffing shortages.
American spokesman Bruce Hicks says it's cutting its schedule for the rest of September and October by 1 to 2 percent due to "a number of factors." Among them is an increase in pilots calling in sick and maintenance reports filed by flight crews.
American canceled more flights on Sunday and Monday than any other airline.
The cancelations come a few days after American imposed new cost-cutting terms on its pilots, including outsourcing more flying jobs to other airlines and terminating one of the pilots' retirement programs in November. Pilots rejected more-generous terms in the last contract offer from American, which has been under bankruptcy protection since November.
Last week, the union sent out ballots for a strike-authorization vote, although federal officials have not cleared the way for a legal strike at the nation's third-biggest airline.