American Airlines Files For Bankruptcy

Well 9/11 started their crash...

American Airlines Files For Bankruptcy

AMR CORP. FILES BANKRUPTCY IN NEW YORK
AMR, HOLDING COMPANY FOR AMERICAN AIRLINES, FILES CHAPTER 11
AMR COPR. LISTS DEBTS OF $29.5 BILLION IN BANKRUPTCY FILING
AMR HAS $4.1B IN CASH
AMR TO START FURTHER TALKS WITH UNION TO CUT LABOR COSTS
*AMR NAMES THOMAS HORTON CHAIRMAN, CEO; GERALD ARPEY TO RETIRE

Bye bye American airlines. One less airline to screw it's passengers... good riddance. Or eh, maybe they'll get another bailout, like the one they received after 9/11...

Anyway, one down, a whole lot more to go... that's what happens when the TSA violates the constitution thousands of times a day.

reply to post by Vitchilo


You know this saddens me actually, why? because American Airlines was the first airline that I traveled to visit my grandmother from PR to NY back in 74, at that time my ticket only cost 55 dollars, I was a teen traveling alone and I was treated with care, the food was the best food I ever tasted that it was not what I was used to eat back home, the stewards to me looked so beautiful and like magazine models, that I wanted to grew up to be one, things were a lot different back then.

take the scanners out and maybe people will want to do business with you

This is a chapter 11 bankruptcy, which as far as I know means that AA isn't going anywhere.
As far as I can tell filing for chapter 11 has actually been used by other airlines as a way of gaining an advantage over AA and now they are following suit.

If anything it looks like it's AA's employees that might get the raw end of this rather then the airline

Bloomberg News notes that "AMR was determined to avoid Chapter 11 in the years after the 2001 terrorist attacks, as peers used bankruptcy to shed costly pension and retiree benefit plans and restructure debt. American later watched as rival carriers combined, giving them larger route networks that were more attractive to lucrative corporate travel customers."

link

reply to post by davespanners


Dave,
Employees 'ALWAYS" get the short end of the deal..unless your working for the 'Guvumint'! I've yet to see any bankruptcy help the worker or the stock holder unless they are connected to some powerful political movement!

Zindo

Let them be LIQUIDATED, assets sold cheaply, past and present CEO's salaries,bonuses clawed back and then let another entreprenuer rise AA from the ashes. It's only capitalism at work.

No BS chapter11, end it now there and then, so that jobs need not be lost and AA takes to the skies again.

sad to hear they could not prevent this. Its never a good thing when companys go under. Ill be the one to say it, Im glad they manned up and did not take any bail out cash

Originally posted by Vitchilo
Well 9/11 started their crash...

American Airlines Files For Bankruptcy

AMR CORP. FILES BANKRUPTCY IN NEW YORK
AMR, HOLDING COMPANY FOR AMERICAN AIRLINES, FILES CHAPTER 11
AMR COPR. LISTS DEBTS OF $29.5 BILLION IN BANKRUPTCY FILING
AMR HAS $4.1B IN CASH
AMR TO START FURTHER TALKS WITH UNION TO CUT LABOR COSTS
*AMR NAMES THOMAS HORTON CHAIRMAN, CEO; GERALD ARPEY TO RETIRE

Bye bye American airlines. One less airline to screw it's passengers... good riddance. Or eh, maybe they'll get another bailout, like the one they received after 9/11...

Anyway, one down, a whole lot more to go... that's what happens when the TSA violates the constitution thousands of times a day.

edit on 29-11-2011 by Vitchilo because: (no reason given)

They're not going to stop operating. Many airlines have done this in order to break their union contracts when the unions won't negotiate (or re-negotiate is probably more accurate). It's the only way they can do it legally.

I guess 900$ million of our tax dollars wasn't enough for them...

American Airlines received its first payment of $359 million Friday, according to spokesman John Hotard. It expects to receive $900 million total.

Airlines begin receiving federal bailout money


apparently 143$ million in profit for 2010 wasn't enough to keep them afloat either!

AMR Corporation, the parent company of American Airlines, Inc., today reported a net profit of $143 million for the third quarter of 2010, or $0.39 per diluted share.

AMR Third Quarter 2010 Financial Results

BUT wait theres more

Revenues: Revenue grew from $19.9 billion in 2009 to $22.17 billion in 2010, which represents a 11.4% growth. For the second quarter of 2011, revenue grew 7.8% to $6.1 billion compared to the year before.

www.wikinvest.com...

Originally posted by SeekerofTruth101
Let them be LIQUIDATED, assets sold cheaply, past and present CEO's salaries,bonuses clawed back and then let another entreprenuer rise AA from the ashes. It's only capitalism at work.

No BS chapter11, end it now there and then, so that jobs need not be lost and AA takes to the skies again.

Why would the big guns be moronic enough to let that happen? If you force them to do that they'll think twice before bankrolling any businesses again. And workers (who are perpetually dependent on the entrepreneurial class) won't like that, too. Sucks to be the little guy in this world, doesn't it?

reply to post by eldard


Nah...Remember Capitalism and Competiveness it brings? The best survive. If the CEO screws up, than its goodbye. No commie or even socialist tricks which is only FACISM they practised - privatising profits but socialising debts, is gonna work in this day and age of the awakened middle class and poor.

Regardless if the elite or supposed truly 'entreprenuerial' as you envisaged likes it or not, where there is a need and a profitable niche to go in, SOMEONE will do so, more so when MANY have hoarded wealth tucked and hidden away today.

So to the AA management, cut the BS and just get on with it or just....get.out ( but first, make sure refund every single cent of taxpayer's monies in bailouts to them spent on management bonues and salaries, and they walk free or else....)

Originally posted by SeekerofTruth101
reply to post by eldard

 

Regardless if the elite or supposed truly 'entreprenuerial' as you envisaged likes it or not, where there is a need and a profitable niche to go in, SOMEONE will do so

Yes but not really for massive blue chip niches since other airlines will simply fill the void. Few people have the capital capabilities of Warren Buffet to just start a massive airline company from scratch. Just ask those pathetic upstart car companies namely Fisker and Tesla.

reply to post by Vitchilo


Although they will not shut down I'm wondering if you realize how many people work for American Airlines and what this effect will have on other companies them for money? It's not a good thing when any company shuts down regardless of their practices when jobs are a huge priority at the moment. A family member of mine has been working there since he got out of school and it would be horrible to see him lose a job over this...seniority will rule when they start cutting positions and even quicker cutting benefits...As much as some of the anti establishment people are excited this is not good news...

I heard on Fox news this morning that American Airlines didn't receive a 9/11 bailout yet it seems like they did. Either or... This is just another issue that angers me. These companies take tax payer money and still go under. I am fed up with the gov't bailing out businesses. Whether American Airlines stays or goes, it doesn't matter to me. They have failed to be competitive thus their company is failing but then what does American Airlines care about being competitive because the gov't is funding them. It is a vicious circle.

reply to post by Vitchilo


I can't tell if people gave stars for reporting the story? Or, for this (I hope it's the former):

Bye bye American airlines. One less airline to screw it's passengers... good riddance.

Anyway, one down, a whole lot more to go... that's what happens when the TSA violates the constitution thousands of times a day.

That's just....wrong. Mean-spirited and detrimental to common sense and decency.

I actually went through TWO Chapter 11 bankruptcies. (And, it's incredibly ironic how former American Airlines CEO Robert Crandall used to criticize MY airline, when we were in Chap.11 - a case of "sour grapes" on his part. But, he was an evil, corrupt cuss anyway....).

There are PEOPLE involved, and their careers, income and families to think about.


The way it works for these large corporations in Chapter 11 is.....they contrive to get certain Bankruptcy judges to handle thier cases, and it turns into some "back-scratching" and deals under the table.

The most recent AAL CEO, Gerald Arpey, apparently was given too much rope by the Board of Directors, and they let him drive it off of the cliff. ( Mixed metaphors, sorry... ).

But, they did throw him under the bus (...metaphor, restored! lol...):

Former American CEO joins firm of former Continental CEO

These guys tend to swim in the same shallow waters together, I have seen over the decades of observation.

Want to add, from that article just above....this paragraph in it is pure propaganda spewed from the airlines spin department:

Bankruptcy filings allowed American's competitors to shed costly labor contracts, unburden themselves of debt and start making money again. American was stuck with higher costs, and had to match its competitors' lower fares or lose money.

I know in many cases, at least for the pilots.....some of OUR wages were higher, in comparison, than at our colleagues at American......because they had given up MANY concessions. I think it as similar to the difference in the In-Flight (Flight Attendants) departments as well...

There are plenty of factors involved that contributed to American's Chapter 11 status (they will still operate during reorg.) Namely, labor costs and the failure to budge by the pilots union.

American says labor-contract rules force it to spend at least $600 million more than other airlines.

www.theblaze.com...

The union recently rejected a very generous offer from American that included job security, and 3 years of guaranteed raises and signing bonuses.

From earlier this month

American made public two pay proposals it had presented to the pilots. One offered an average signing bonus of 4 percent, followed by a 3 percent raise after 15 months and 2 percent increases at 30 months and 45 months. The other included a 5 percent average signing bonus with a 4 percent raise after the first year, 2 percent after the second year and 3 percent after the third.

Both proposals were significantly less than the 10 percent signing bonus and 7 percent yearly raises for three years that the union had proposed. Some pilots feel that because they took hefty pay cuts in 2003 -- in some cases losing a third of their pay rate -- single-digit raises are not enough, particularly since executives have received millions of dollars in bonuses even as the airline has lost money.

The union wanted 7 percent raises. When was the last time any of you got an automatic 7 percent raise? Just for being you not attached to merit....

Chapter 11 was imminent

Several Wall Street analysts say that if a deal cannot be reached with the pilots union, a bankruptcy filing is becoming likely. Although the company had about $4.8 billion in cash and short-term investments at the end of the third quarter, it faces large debt payments in the next year.

Fitch Ratings said in a research note that while a deal with pilots is needed to avoid a Chapter 11 filing, bankruptcy may improve American's long-term prospects.

www.star-telegram.com...

Ohhhh those tricky unions. Be careful what you wish for.

The NWO are taking America down piece by piece... The gauntlet is being passed over to China...

reply to post by jibeho


I don't think you understand the environment at this airline...not only for the pilots. And, the information that you usually see is slanted, if it is coming from the Company:

The union wanted 7 percent raises. When was the last time any of you got an automatic 7 percent raise? Just for being you not attached to merit....

Whilst I do not know all the "gory" details at AAL, I can infer much, based on personal experience.....experience where the "amendable date" of a current working contract comes and goes.....and "negotiations" drag on for years, and years.....all the while, the wages remain "frozen" at the end point from the old contract.

It is a game the Company plays, wearing you down. It is a law of diminishing returns, eventually.....you try, but sometimes can never recoup the wage-earning potential you've lost during those "gap" years.

They (unions, or "associations") only want what's fair, and promised from before. Companies move the goalposts constantly....and, always to their advantage, and the detriment of the workers who sometimes have no choice but to succumb and get hosed along the way......

American's pilots' slight "problem" is, they have their own independent association, the Allied Pilots Association (APA). Thus, they do not have the full force of the much larger Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) to work in their benefit.

reply to post by Vitchilo


Damn I wonder how this will effect my Dad. He's been working with AA for almost 30 years now.

This doesn't mean they are going out of business, but it is evidence that morally they are chapter 11, pun intended. As someone mentioned, they get out of paying benefits that were owed to employees, and now they are re-negotiating with the unions so they don't have to pay their employees more.

Will they pass these savings on to the customer? Of course NOT, because trickle-down economics is a fantasy.