American to cut 2,500 pilots

Advertiser News Services

About 2,500 American Airlines pilots will lose their jobs during the next year, some through retirement, as part of the union's $660 million in annual concessions to save the company from bankruptcy, union officials said today.

As part of the agreement reached with the airline yesterday, pilots' salaries will be slashed 23 percent in the first year, beginning May 1, and 17 percent each subsequent year of the six-year pact, said John E. Darrah, president of the 13,000-member Allied Pilots Association.

American has 12,000 pilots on its payroll. They have 14 days to ratify the new contract.

American chairman Donald J. Carty praised union leaders, saying their actions "have enabled us to avoid an immediate filing with the bankruptcy court."

The news lifted shares of American sharply for the second time in two days. AMR shares rose 43 percent, or 90 cents, to $3 this afternoon on the New York Stock Exchange as investors considered a bankruptcy filing much less likely now.