More than 13,000 airline jobs getting cut

American Airlines parent AMR Corp. plans to cut 13,000 workers across the country as part of a broad bankruptcy restructuring that aims to cut costs by $2 billion a year, the company said Wednesday.

The proposed cuts include laying off 400 pilots, 4,600 mechanics and related workers, 4,200 fleet services employees, 2,300 flight attendants, and 1,400 management and support staff, said company spokesman Bruce Hicks.

The Fort Worth-based carrier also said it wants to terminate all four of its pension plans as part of a broad bankruptcy restructuring that aims to cut costs by $2 billion a year.

"American's pension plans are very expensive -- we spend more on them than our competitors spend on their retirement plans. We simply do not see a way we can secure the company's future without terminating our defined benefit plans," the company said in materials posted on a company website.

American is also proposing to replace its existing retirement benefit plans with defined contribution plans, such as 401(k)s. American said all active employees would be offered a 401(k) plan with non-pilot employees receiving a company match dollar-for-dollar of up to 5.5 percent. Pilots would participate in a new plan that will replace its defined benefit plan.

In a letter to employees, AMR chairman and chief executive Tom Horton said the company aims to improve its finances by $3 billion a year, with $1 billion coming in revenue improvements and $2 billion in reduced costs, including restructuring debt and leases, grounding older planes and "necessary employee-related changes."

AMR has more than 80,000 employees, including about 25,000 in North Texas.

Horton said the company aims to increase departures from his five major markets -- Dallas/Fort Worth, Chicago, Miami, New York and Los Angeles -- by 20 percent in the next five years.

The Association for a Better New York said it is optimistic that American will turn things around.

"We are confident that they will emerge from this a stronger and more competitive airline, capable of serving the growing needs of our city," executive director Jennifer Hensley said in a statement.