American Airlines will close KC overhaul base

[NVJunkie]

Not good folks.........

AA has announced it will cut mx jobs at Kansas City.

American Airlines To Cut 500 Jobs At Kansas City Base


Thursday April 7, 9:03 AM EDT


KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP)--American Airlines officials are blaming record fuel costs and fierce airfare competition for the company's decision to cut more than 500 additional employees at its Kansas City, Mo., maintenance base.

In notifying affected workers of the job cuts on Wednesday, American officials said the possibility of the cutback has been known since the company eliminated more than 400 jobs at the base in December.

The cuts, affecting about one-third of the base's current work force, will take effect in June. They will drop the number of employees at the facility to about 900 -a far cry from the roughly 4,500 people who worked there in 1990.

American, a unit of Fort Worth, Texas-based AMR Corp. (AMR), has lost nearly $ 2 billion in the past two years. It also has maintenance bases in Fort Worth and Tulsa, Okla.

Under a 25-year lease with Kansas City that was signed in February, American must employ at least 700 workers at the base to keep economic development incentives from the city.

Workers at the Kansas City base earn an average of about $55,000 a year.


Dow Jones Newswires
04-07-05 0903ET


© 2005 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

[jlbomega]

I'm willing to wager AA would love nothing more than to get out of that lease.  With KC going after all sorts of cargo carriers and future plans of a fourth terminal we could jump on this.  We should tell AA if another carrier would take over their contract, or be willing to enter into a new one with the city, that we would let them out of theirs.  I think it would be good since AA already has deep roots in Dallas just to our south and Tulsa (even closer).  KC could go after a JetBlue or AirTran to set up a Midwest hub/mini-hub since neither of those carriers are strong in the region at this time.

[Highlander]

This will come as no surprise to most but AA will close the KC overhaul base next September.  AA has never been a friend to KC but the base is still a major employer with around 500 jobs.  This is one of the things that really gets me about KC, rather than trying get AA to stay another year or two, KC and the entire metro should have been aggressively pursuing the AA facility in Tulsa.

http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/1534230.html

[dangerboy]

rather than trying get AA to stay another year or two, KC and the entire metro should have been aggressively pursuing the AA facility in Tulsa.

Huh?  Are you saying somehow physically relocate the brand new building from Tulsa to KC?

[grovester]

might be referring to the 03 incentives

[Highlander]

might be referring to the 03 incentives

yes. 

[DaveKCMO]

AA is also still giving STL the shaft (TWA flight attendants not rehired, reduction in flights, etc.).

[dangerboy]

I don't think we were ever in the running for the Tulsa deal...

[Highlander]

I don't think we were ever in the running for the Tulsa deal...

How does a city get into the running?  I think they need to be very aggressive.

[aknowledgeableperson]

KC and the entire metro should have been aggressively pursuing the AA facility in Tulsa.

A few years ago there was a big fight over the various AA overhaul bases.  KC was always at a disadvantage since AA inherited it with the deal with TWA.  AA has ties to Tulsa but none to KC.  The employees in KC where TWA people and AA has wanted to get rid of them for some time.  Why would AA shaft their employees in Tulsa to save some old TWA farts in KC?

It is surprising that KC was able to keep the facility open as long as it has. 

[LenexatoKCMO]

How does a city get into the running? 

When it comes to AA, apparently the only way is to not have ever had anything to do with TWA.  No quite sure why they baught them if the only intention was to liquidate any vestige of TWA operations. 

[dangerboy]

When it comes to AA, apparently the only way is to not have ever had anything to do with TWA.  No quite sure why they baught them if the only intention was to liquidate any vestige of TWA operations. 

TWA did have some very lucrative oversees routes, including some very valuable landing slots at European and Middle Eastern airports.  In addition to acquiring this international route network, A.A. also eliminated a competitor when they bought TWA.

KC was never "in the running" for the Tulsa base because AA built it *before* they bought TWA.

[ignatius]

STL really got screwed more than KC.  AA is about to dump any resemblance of Lambert being a hub.  It's a serious blow for STL (especially business travelers) as Lambert passenger traffic is about to be nearly as low as KCI...  Lambert ranks 31 and KCI ranks 34 in passenger traffic.  Lambert ranked 6th at one time in the TWA days.  It may drop another couple ranks in 6 months.

Minneapolis fears the same will happen with Delta 'merging' Northwest.  

[dangerboy]

The TWA hub made Lambert much bigger than was necessary for a city of St. Louis' size.  With the hub gone the airport is now rightly sized for the city, just slightly bigger than KCI.  It sucks for business travelers in St. Louis, but consumers will find out what we already know in KC - not having a hub means more competition and lower fares.

[DaveKCMO]

STL really got screwed more than KC.  AA is about to dump any resemblance of Lambert being a hub.  It's a serious blow for STL (especially business travelers) as Lambert passenger traffic is about to be nearly as low as KCI...  Lambert ranks 31 and KCI ranks 34 in passenger traffic.  Lambert ranked 6th at one time in the TWA days.  It may drop another couple ranks in 6 months.

this should be a boon to the HSR segment between chicago and st. louis. if lambert was still a major hub, there might be HSR opposition from the airlines.

[ignatius]

AA pulling mostly out of STL will also be a challenge for KC as well.  Southwest is growing in STL to compensate for AA losses so KC will have to compete with STL for SW flights.

[kard]

what a bad two days in general for KC economic news.  there was AA, then Sprint this morning.  Garmin also took a huge hit (some tech profits are calling GPS-only devices "toast") - Google's phone map application will now offer turn-by-turn directions on your phone for no additional cost.

[loftguy]

what a bad two days in general for KC economic news.  there was AA, then Sprint this morning.  Garmin also took a huge hit (some tech profits are calling GPS-only devices "toast") - Google's phone map application will now offer turn-by-turn directions on your phone for no additional cost.

What was the news on Sprint?  I've checked up a bit and don't find anything newsworthy.

[staubio]

What was the news on Sprint?  I've checked up a bit and don't find anything newsworthy.

Just another quarter of losses.

[LaulaNep73]

The Edge has the local 08 PSP field. Then again Graffities field is a good one also.