American Airlines: Files for Bankruptcy Protection

American Airlines parent AMR Corp. (AMR) filed for bankruptcy after failing to secure cost-cutting labor agreements and sitting out a round of mergers that dropped it from the world's largest airline to No. 3 in the U.S.

With the filing, American became the final large U.S. full- fare airline to seek court protection from creditors. The Fort Worth, Texas-based company, which traces its roots to 1920s air- mail operations in the Midwest, listed $24.7 billion in assets and $29.6 billion in debt in Chapter 11 papers filed today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan.

"They will have to go through the whole process that their peers have gone through," John Strickland, an aviation analyst at JLS Consulting in London, said today in a telephone interview. "It's painful but probably necessary. They have fallen behind what others have done."

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Gerard Arpey, 53, will retire and be replaced by Thomas Horton, AMR said. Normal flight schedules will continue on American and its American Eagle regional unit, along with the airline's frequent-flier program, the company said.

AMR was determined to avoid Chapter 11 in the years after the 2001 terrorist attacks, as peers used bankruptcy to shed costly pension and retiree benefit plans and restructure debt. American later watched as rival carriers combined, giving them larger route networks that were more attractive to lucrative corporate travel customers.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-29/amr-files-for-bankruptcy-protection-...

http://blip.tv/wiv-news/american-airlines-files-for-bankruptcy-5614412

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