American cancels flights in February as many senior pilots retire

Members of the Allied Pilots Association (APA), which represents pilots at American Airlines, are charging that the airline’s failure to keep enough pilots on staff is a major factor in dozens of February flight cancellations planned by the airline. An American official told the Tulsa World that the “proactive” February cancellations only amount to a fraction of one percent of the airline’s schedule, although the APA noted that most of them will be long-haul international flights flown by the airline’s most senior pilots. Apparently an unusually large number of American’s older pilots gave notice of retirement last fall in order to lock in greater retirement benefits in the face of a declining stock market. More than 2,200 American pilots are still on furlough, and APA charged that the airline can’t bring them back fast enough because it reduced its pilot training capacity. APA alleged that the February cancellations “are proof positive that management has failed to retain a sufficient number of pilots to staff the operation.” It should be noted that APA has another motivation to start publicly sniping at American’s management: New contract talks between the union and the airline have been going on for a year and a half with little progress. The APA recently asked the National Mediation Board to intervene in the stalled contract talks.