American Airlines Bankruptcy Turns One

It has been a full year since American Airlines filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Since the beginning we knew it wasn’t going to be easy and many sacrifices would be made. So how far have they come over the last year? And is a happy ending in sight?

A Review

American Airlines has made some tough choices over the last several months in efforts to restructure debts and try to regain financial control. After laying off thousands of employees, closing routes and backing out of terminal lease obligations in some key cities, American stands by the opinion that their future is bright. However, there are some tough issues still on the table for discussion.

A new collective bargaining agreement with the pilots union is still up in the air. After months of turbulent negotiations between AMR and the union, a tentative agreement was reached earlier this month. The pilots voted on that agreement this week, but the results won’t be known until Friday, December 7th.

In the meantime, American has agreed to new labor deals that will save hundreds of millions of dollars annually and made some major cost saving cuts, like terminating expensive leases on some of their more gas-guzzling airplanes.