American Airlines is Laying Off 839 Workers at Tulsa Base

• Joe Wertz
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Joe Wertz was a reporter and managing editor for StateImpact Oklahoma from 2011-2019. He reported on energy and environment issues for national NPR audiences and other national outlets. He previously worked as a managing editor, assistant editor and staff reporter at several major Oklahoma newspapers and studied journalism at the University of Central Oklahoma.

curimedia / flickr

Layoffs at American Airlines’ Tulsa maintenance base will begin in December, company officials said Monday.

By February 2013, 839 mechanics and maintenance workers in Tulsa will lose their jobs, the Tulsa World‘s D.R. Stewart reports:

Additional reductions of mechanics & related positions at the Tulsa maintenance base could occur as a result of the closing of the Alliance Airport base in Fort Worth and layoffs of 862 mechanics & related workers there whose seniority could lead to “bumping” of less senior mechanics in Tulsa, officials said.

More than 7,000 people work at the bankrupt carrier’s Tulsa maintenance base; about 4,200 of those workers are mechanics, the paper reports:

… 233 mechanics will be laid off in December and 606 mechanics will lose their jobs in February, American’s plan says.

American’s plan calls for 10,400 job cuts overall, which officials say will save the company more than $1 billion in annual labor costs. The plan still has to be approved by a bankruptcy judge, the World reports, and company officials said an early retirement option — which closes Sept. 25 — could mitigate the number of “involuntary layoffs.”

As part of the early-retirement program, a mechanic who is 45 years old with 15 years’ work experience could be eligible for a $12,500 cash payout, plus $10,000 and 13 weeks’ severance pay, company officials said.

The layoffs are part of American’s plan to consolidate its aircraft overhaul operations. The carrier is closing its Alliance Airport base in Fort Worth and dispersing operations to the Tulsa base and one at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.