Fort Worth-based AMR Corp. ranks among the top employers in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, and is the top taxpayer to Grapevine at more than $1.02 million annually.
“Their economic success over the long term is just critical—it just is,” Grapevine City Manager Bruno Rumbelow said. “It is not only important for Grapevine, but it is important for the region.”
American Airlines and American Eagle sat out bankruptcy in the past decade while their competition, parent companies of Northwest, Delta and United Airlines, filed for Chapter 11. AMR filed for Chapter 11 on Nov. 29 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York as an effort to cut labor costs and restructure debt. Area leaders are rooting for American and hoping its parent company will emerge from bankruptcy, as its competitors have.
Southlake Mayor John Terrell, who is also vice president of commercial development at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, is optimistic about the airline’s future.
“I think that we are fairly confident that American Airlines is going to come out of bankruptcy stronger than they were before,” he said. “Because DFW Airport is their low-cost hub, we may actually see expansion of American Airlines’ people and workforce in this area, as opposed to some of their locations across the country.”
Recent changes
As a result of the filing, American Eagle is scheduled to return 21 of its ATR-72 turboprop aircrafts—15 of which serviced the Dallas/Fort Worth area—to the leasing company by the end of the month, AMR spokesman Tim Smith said. The aircraft will be replaced with Embraer regional jets.
The ATR-72s’ discountinuation led to route cancellations. American Eagle will end service between DFW Airport and Augusta, Ga., on Jan. 31, and service between Fayetteville, N.C. and DFW, a result of poor financial performance, Smith said.
In a separate move, American Airlines on Jan. 9 announced route cancellations and 150 job cuts outside of the DFW area as a result of winter schedule reductions, the loss of a U.S. Postal Service domestic mail contract and the closure of a St. Louis-based ground service equipment refurbishment shop.
It will end service between DFW Airport and Burbank, Calif., on Feb. 9, close the Burbank operation staffed by a third party and drop service between Chicago and New Delhi effective March 1.
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