American’s Schedule Getting Back to Normal

Hoping to spare their union a possible $10-million fine for a sickout that has interrupted the plans of thousands of travelers, pilots for American Airlines returned to the cockpit in greater numbers Monday.

Operations were expected to be near normal today.

About 700 pilots remained on the company’s “sick list” late Monday afternoon, down from roughly 1,000 on Sunday and well under the 2,470 absent at the height of the 10-day job action, American spokesman Tim Smith said. Typically about 400 of American’s 9,400 pilots are out sick on any given day.

“American’s operations continued to move much closer to normal . . . as the pilots’ sick list continues to decline,” Smith said. Only 13% or 290 of American’s 2,250 flights scheduled Monday were canceled compared to the 25% scrapped Sunday and the roughly 50% canceled both Thursday and Friday.

Included in Monday’s cancellations were at least 11 departures from LAX and 17 arrivals. The airline typically cancels 20 to 30 flights a day, for reasons ranging from weather to mechanical problems, Smith said.

Analysts estimate the sickout has cost the nation’s No. 2 air carrier between $60 million and $80 million in lost revenue.

Smith predicted that American’s operations would be approaching normal today “with a few minor exceptions as we continue to position aircraft and crews around the system.” At least 23 flights will be canceled today, he said, including at least three LAX departures and one arrival.

As many as 6,600 flights have been canceled so far because of the job action, Smith said, affecting about 600,000 passengers.

By Monday morning, however, such passengers were hard to find at LAX. Of a dozen passengers queried, only a group of three brothers who had been on a family get-away in the Caribbean said the sickout had hampered their travel plans. Ultimately, however, the trio confessed they didn’t mind missing their scheduled return from Miami on Sunday because American flew them back Monday in first class. “We got nothing to complain about,” said Bernie Mizrahi, a 62-year-old contractor from La Canada.

But even as the pilots were throttling down their sickout, representatives from their union, Allied Pilots Assn., were back at talks with American executives Monday over the union’s contention that American is dragging its feet in efforts to integrate pilots from recently purchased Reno Air Inc. into American’s contract with the 9,200-member APA.

The union wants the airline to integrate the Reno pilots immediately while American prefers a more gradual inclusion over 12 to 18 months.

The union also wants the Reno Air pilots to get immediate raises to American pay scales, in which pilots average $136,00 a year, and for American pilots to immediately get promotions that will be created by the expanded routes that Reno Air provides.

Smith said he could not comment on the substance of Monday’s talks, and union representatives did not return repeated phone calls.

The union has been urging members to drop their sickout since at least Saturday when U.S. District Judge Joe Kendall ruled the APA had not done enough to get members to comply with his order earlier last week to return to work.

As a result, Kendall ordered the union to set aside $10 million to pay a possible fine, which he indicated he will decide Wednesday whether to levy. He also ordered the union’s top officers, President Rich LaVoy and Vice President Brian Mayhew, to set aside $10,000 and $5,000 respectively for their own potential fines.

While some observers see Kendall’s ruling as a blow to the union’s bargaining position with American, air industry analyst Michael Boyd said if anything, the court order has strengthened the union’s resolve.

“This will weaken their willingness to go out of their way for management,” Boyd said. “The pilots won’t bend over backwards as much as they used to for the company.”

Meanwhile, Wall Street has shown its own displeasure with the labor strife. Since the slowdown began, the stock price for American’s parent company, Forth Worth-based AMR Corp. has dropped 8% from $59.94 to $55.13.