Ailing TWA Lays Off 430, Closes L.A. Pilot Base : Airlines: The goal is to save money. The pilots’ union cries foul.

Money-losing Trans World Airlines Inc., squeezed by higher fuel prices, said Friday it is laying off 430 workers and will close its Los Angeles pilot base in January to reduce costs.

The company said TWA’s 300 Los Angeles-area pilots will be reassigned to New York or St. Louis.

TWA spokesman Don Morrison said most of the people involved in Friday’s layoffs are managers and clerical workers. Between 250 and 300 of them work in either St. Louis or Kansas City, he said.

Morrison didn’t say how much TWA expected to save with the layoffs. TWA has about 33,000 employees.

TWA is the latest airline to announce cutbacks since Iraq’s Aug. 2 invasion of Kuwait triggered a 40% jump in jet fuel prices. USAir, Pan Am and Midway Airlines have recently laid off workers, and Northwest Airlines has said layoffs are possible.

TWA has taken other steps to cut its losses. In the past two weeks, it has stopped serving Harrisburg, Pa., and Oslo, Norway. Since the beginning of the year, TWA has abandoned a total of nine cities, including Long Beach and Burbank.

TWA, according to its pilots, expects to save at least $500,000 in two years by closing its Los Angeles pilot base, which handles scheduling for the airline’s West Coast operations. The pilots contend that the move will actually cost TWA an additional $7 million.

Morrison said he couldn’t comment on the decision to close the pilot base.

Bill Compton, chief negotiator for TWA’s pilots, said many senior pilots who will be transferred to New York or St. Louis from Los Angeles will qualify for higher paying jobs as crew members on Boeing 747s. Currently, most West Coast pilots fly Lockheed L-1011s, he said.

Not only will TWA have to pay these pilots more, but the airline will have to train them to fly the 747s, Compton said.

TWA will also have to pay relocation costs for pilots who move. Compton said about 80 pilots are expected to move to either New York or St. Louis. The rest will probably commute to work, he said, by flying as passengers to either New York or St. Louis.

Compton said he believes TWA is closing the Los Angeles base to force some pilots to retire. He said about 150 of the West Coast pilots are eligible for early retirement.

“We think this is not an ethical way to force someone to retire,” Compton said. “It’s not right.” He said the TWA pilot union is urging members not to retire.

Compton said pilots also believe that TWA is retaliating for their refusal to give the company $80 million in wage concessions. The airline’s chairman, Carl Icahn, said the concessions are needed to shore up TWA’s finances. The carrier lost $300 million last year and paid nearly $370 million interest on its debt.