StarBulletin.com

American Air cuts 4 jobs, 2 flights


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POSTED: Tuesday, June 16, 2009

American Airlines is laying off four Honolulu-based employees and reducing its Los Angeles-Honolulu flights by two a week as part of the cutbacks the carrier announced last week.

The affected employees—out of 113 overall in Hawaii—work on the ramp loading or unloading baggage or cargo, airline spokesman Tim Smith said.

American, which has four daily round trips between Los Angeles and Honolulu, said the two flights will be dropped effective Aug. 25.

Those flights will be reinstated on Nov. 19 to again give American four daily round trips between the two cities seven days a week.

“;With this small change, we will have three round trips a day two days a week and four round trips five days a week—so you can see the change is very small,”; Smith said. “;None of our other routes to Honolulu are affected by any of this.”;

American, the world's second-biggest carrier, said last week it planned to cut at least 1,600 jobs, or 2.4 percent of its work force, including 1,200 flight attendants.

In addition, American is paring seating capacity by 7.5 percent because of dwindling demand, with the biggest cuts being on overseas flights.

“;The best way to prepare for tomorrow's challenges is to confront today's challenges head-on, all the while keeping focus on your long-term direction,”; said Gerard Arpey, chairman, president and chief executive of American. “;And that is exactly what we are doing.

“;As you know, capacity discipline has been our mantra for many years and it has been one of the keys to our ability to navigate our way through the industry's many storms.”;