American Cancels 10% of Sunday Flights Amid Pilots Dispute

AMR Corp.’s American Airlines, the No. 2 U.S. carrier, canceled about 10% of its flights Sunday after pilots didn’t show up for work in a dispute over the company’s purchase of Reno Air Inc. in December.

American canceled 240 of its 2,250 daily flights as of late Sunday afternoon because of “a higher-than-usual number of unexpected absences among pilots,” said spokesman Tim Smith. American could cancel more flights today, Smith said. The Fort Worth-based airline canceled about 90 flights Saturday.

It was not immediately clear how many, if any, flights to and from Los Angeles International Airport were affected. It appeared that most of the cancellations were due to pilots declining to fill overtime shifts.

Talks between AMR and the pilots union ended Friday. The pilots contended the Reno purchase violated the union’s labor contract and could cause them to lose assignments and jobs to lower-paid counterparts at Reno. No new talks are scheduled, said Drew Engelke, a union spokesman and American pilot.

“American continues to be very disappointed in this situation and sincerely regrets the inconvenience that it causes for our customers,” Smith said in a statement, adding that American was attempting to book passengers on additional flights or on other carriers.

Engelke declined to comment on whether the union ordered pilots not to report to work over the weekend.

But a statement posted on the union’s Internet site noted the “dramatic increase in the reassignment of pilots on days off, as getting pilots into the cockpit by any means necessary has become the only alternative to canceling flights.” It added that “our contract does not obligate pilots to be available to answer or return phone calls on days off.”