Not a surprise really, as they have been losing money for years. The big issues American Airlines (AA) will want to address while in bankruptcy are their labor costs and the scope clause on their regional flying, with the aim of adding more large regional jets. They will also want to reject leases on aircraft that are at unfavorable rates or are obsolescent — and that could cover a significant chunk of the aircraft American and its American Eagle regional subsidiary flies.
CLT impact, short run: AA flights from Charlotte are:
Dallas Ft. Worth: Five times a day (six times a day from December 15) on 140-seat MD-80s
New York LaGuardia: Five times a day on 66-seat CRJ700 regional jets.
Chicago O’Hare: Five times a day on 44-seat or 50-seat regional jets
Miami: Five times a day on 50-seat regional jets
Since American’s fleet will almost certainly shrink while in Chapter 11, there’s a good chance that we could have fewer American flights here in Charlotte a year or two from now that we have currently. It remains to be seen if they keep all four destinations from CLT; ORD and LGA would be the most vulnerable. Down the road, American will be replacing older, less efficient aircraft (roughly everything they use to serve CLT except the CRJ700s) with newer aircraft that are also larger.
Possible long run impact: Simple. Many of those that follow the aviation industry think that there will be one more big merger, with a post-Chapter 11 American Airlines buying either US Airways or JetBlue. So this is an important first step in that direction.
