In a filing made late Friday, the bankruptcy court has ordered the creation of a committee of AMR retirees as part of the company's restructuring proceedings.

The court said the committee will have unionized and non-unionized employees and it is up to the U.S. bankruptcy trustee assigned to the case to decide who the non-union employees will be and how many will be on the committee.

American Airlines' parent company, AMR, has indicated it may change some retiree benefits as part of its restructuring plan although the court noted in the filing that AMR has not yet filed benefit changes with the court under Section 1114 of the bankruptcy code.

The court order also says the trustee will talk with American's labor unions to determine if they want to serve on the retiree committee. If a union does not want to serve on the committee then the trustee can appoint a retiree from that union group to serve on the committee.

That means if the Allied Pilots Association, which has said it does not plan on representing retiree pilots during the bankruptcy proceedings, a retiree pilot will still be able to sit on the committee to represent their fellow retiree pilots.