American Airlines has asked its three major unions to meet Wednesday to discuss changes it plans to make in bankruptcy.
The Allied Pilots Association, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants and the Transport Workers Union represent about 54,000 pilots, flight attendants, mechanics, ground workers and other personnel at the Fort Worth-based airline.
The workers union told its members that it has not been notified of any meeting for American Eagle workers.
American did not give specifics on what it plans to discuss.
"American has asked the leadership of each union representing AA employees -- the APA, APFA and TWU -- to attend a meeting on Feb. 1 to discuss the kinds of changes we believe are necessary for our airline to compete effectively in order to prosper and grow in the future. Our challenges are great, but so are our opportunities," spokesman Bruce Hicks said. "We plan to discuss these issues with the union leadership before providing any information publicly."
Analysts have said they expect American to trim its labor costs in bankruptcy by cutting jobs and changing pensions. American has not filed any motions with the bankruptcy court asking to modify its agreements with unionized workers. The three unions hold seats on the creditors' committee, which will play an important role in the airline's restructuring.
US Airways bid
Separately on Wednesday, US Airways CEO Doug Parker confirmed that his airline has hired advisers to examine a possible takeover bid for American's parent company, AMR Corp. Parker's comments came during US Airways' fourth-quarter earnings call with investors and Wall Street analysts.
Parker said US Airways, which had a $71 million profit last year, does not need to merge with another airline but has advocated industry consolidation.
"We, of course, are always interested in studying potential value-enhancing opportunities and part of studying these opportunities is ensuring we have good counsel," Parker said. "Therefore, as has been reported, we have indeed retained Barclays Capital, Millstein and Co., and Latham & Watkins to help us explore our options as they relate to AMR's bankruptcy.
"We expect AMR will remain in bankruptcy for quite some time and therefore we anticipate that we and our advisors will be studying the situation for quite some time. And while we're studying the situation we do not expect there will be any major developments and we certainly have nothing to report today."
Andrea Ahles, 817-390-7631
