American Air to Cut 250 Flights; Blames Pilots

American Airlines said today it will scrub nearly 250 flights--11% of its schedule--by February to help cope with alleged problems with pilots.

The announcement came a day after Ft. Worth-based American said it would abandon 36 flights between Los Angeles and San Francisco, the nation’s busiest air route.

Initially, the airline will cancel 21 flights at its Nashville hub, 16 at its Raleigh-Durham, N.C., hub and discontinue some services at its main hub in Dallas-Ft. Worth.

American will also stop serving Fresno; Charleston, S.C.; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Barranquilla, Colombia; Grenada and Curacao.

The airline also made public a letter to employees in which Chairman Robert Crandall blames American Airlines pilots for forcing the schedule reduction.

“I deeply regret the impact which these reductions will have on many of our employees,” Crandall said. “However, we simply cannot operate at full capacity until we can again be sure of the active cooperation of all our flight crews.”

The number of sick pilots at American has been above average for nearly two weeks, and the airline has accused the pilots’ union of ordering an illegal sickout.

Leaders of the union, the Allied Pilots Assn., have denied the charge.

The union and the company have been trying for 15 months to write a new five-year contract to replace one that expired Jan. 1, 1990.

During the last week of December, the number of sick pilots exceeded 500 a day, twice the normal figure. The airline canceled more than 1,400 flights that week, 57% because of a lack of adequate crews.