American Airlines Signals More Service Cuts

American Airlines signaled Tuesday that changes to its service would be coming soon, saying it could not continue to fly all of the same nonstop routes and provide the same service level in unprofitable markets.

On the drawing board for potential cutbacks are flights and routes and the use of space in major airports, as well as reservation centers and maintenance bases.

The structure of hubs in Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago and St. Louis is also under review.

In a statement, Fort Worth-based American stopped short of outlining specifics.

American, the world’s largest airline and a unit of AMR Corp., narrowly avoided a bankruptcy filing three times this spring as it sought $1.8 billion in wage and work rule concessions from big unions.

Although U.S. airlines have reported some improvement in their business, their finances are far from healthy except for a few cases. AMR, which is also parent of American Eagle and the former TWA, has about 91,000 employees, compared with about 125,000 before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. A spokesman said there has been no decision about additional layoffs.

“We’re not making any decisions yet about our network and our infrastructure, but we are nearing those decisions today,” spokesman Todd Burke said.

The recent pay cuts, which followed those at two rival U.S. airlines that filed for bankruptcy protection in 2002, came on top of an additional $2 billion in other cost savings that AMR previously had identified. The overall goal was to cut about $4 billion annually.

Credit-rating firms estimate the savings to the airline are between $200 million and $450 million a quarter.

About 3,100 previously announced flight attendant furloughs took effect Tuesday as part of an overall restructuring plan.

Shares of AMR, which have staged a huge rally since the near-bankruptcy events, fell 40 cents on the New York Stock Exchange to $10.60. In March, the stock was at a low of $1.25.