DALLAS (AP) — American Airlines will close a maintenance base in Kansas City, Mo., and shrink other repair shops next September as the slump in travel leaves fewer planes to maintain.
The moves will eliminate up to 700 jobs nationwide, about 5 percent of American’s maintenance work force, the company said Wednesday.
Maintenance senior vice president Carmine J. Romano said in a letter to employees that the closures were “a difficult but important step” to reduce maintenance operations as American cuts back on flights due to the yearlong slump in travel.
American also has major maintenance bases in Tulsa, Okla., and Fort Worth, Texas. It has considered closing one of the bases for several years, but held off after picking up work on other airlines’ planes in Tulsa.
The airline said Wednesday that by next September it will also close smaller maintenance stations at airports in Kansas City, Detroit, Minneapolis and San Jose, Calif., and shrink stations in St. Louis — where it is sharply cutting flights — and San Francisco.
American’s fleet has dwindled from more than 900 planes to about 600 over the past decade as it has been rocked by the 2001 terror attacks, two recessions, more competition from low-fare carriers, and a sharp decline in business travel.
