AA To Shutter Fort Worth Maintenance Facility
DALLAS (AP) - American Airlines plans to eliminate 1,090 jobs when it shuts down a Fort Worth maintenance facility in December.
The airline announced plans to close the facility several months ago. It gave details on the timing and job losses to the Transport Workers Union on Friday, and the union posted the document on its website.
American plans to shut down four maintenance lines at Alliance Airport in November and begin layoffs on Dec. 15, according to the document. The airline plans to turn in the keys in April, and the city of Fort Worth hopes to find another tenant.
American, which filed for bankruptcy protection in November, plans to outsource the work done at Alliance or shift it to facilities at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Tulsa, Okla.
The airline plans to eliminate 993 out of 5,150 maintenance jobs in Tulsa. In 2010, the airline closed a Kansas City, Mo., maintenance facility that it acquired in the 2001 purchase of bankrupt TWA.
Separately, the union for American Airlines flight attendants said 901 of its members have signed up to get payments of $40,000 apiece for quitting their jobs at the financially troubled company so far.
The Association of Professional Flight Attendants said briefings on the buyouts have been standing-room only.
The payments were part of a concessionary contract that flight attendants approved with the airline, which is trying to cut its work force and labor costs while it's under bankruptcy protection. The buyouts are designed to reduce the need for layoffs at American, which wants to cut about 2,000 flight-attendant jobs.
Flight attendants with at least 15 years of service are eligible for the payments. The sign-up period ends September 20.
The attendants voted last month to ratify a contract that would impose tougher productivity rules but give the attendants a 3 percent stake in parent AMR Corp. after it emerges from bankruptcy protection. A federal judge in New York is expected to approve the contract Wednesday.
(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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