American Airlines’ efforts to emerge from bankruptcy caused it to post another quarter of red ink Oct. 17.
AMR, the airline’s holding company, reported a net loss of $238 million. During the same period last year, it lost $162 million, which was the last full quarter before filing for bankruptcy in November 2011.
But the company, which serves Bradley International in Windsor Locks, said it would have been profitable if not for various charges related to the bankruptcy, including $211 million in severance payments.
The airline is offering some of its unionized employees, such as ground workers and flight attendants, voluntary buyout packages as part of the labor deals reached with those unions. American disclosed Oct. 17 that because 2,200 flight attendants took a $40,000 buyout offer, it will need to begin hiring 1,500 replacement flight attendants starting next month.
The airline was able to win new labor deals with the Association of Professional Flight Attendants and the Transport Workers Union, which represents its ground workers. But it is still trying to reach a new labor deal with the Allied Pilots Union. When the bankruptcy court allowed the airline to dump the pilots’ contract last month, pilots began calling in sick and filing maintenance reports on items that airline management says were trivial. Flight cancellations increased and ridership fell 4 percent.
