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AMR Corp., the parent company of American Airlines and American Eagle, said Thursday it obtained $2.9 billion in additional liquidity and new aircraft financing, which should help the company finance its previously ordered Boeing 737s. The company also said it was strengthening its network by reallocating capacity to hubs in Dallas/Fort Worth, Chicago, Miami and New York and intends to enhance its fleet.

American Airlines is eliminating 921 flight attendant jobs as of October 1, including 228 employees that will be furloughed and another 244 who have two-month involuntary leaves, the airline said Tuesday. The total jobs lost were less than the 1,200 positions that the airline had warned of in June when it revealed that it would be making further cuts in its flying capacity for the fall.

The head of British Airways, Willie Walsh, said Monday that he expects to win government approval this year for a deal with American Airlines that would allow the companies to cooperate on trans-Atlantic flights. The two carriers are seeking anti-trust immunity that would let them set prices and flight schedules together. Critics, including Virgin Atlantic owner Richard Branson, have argued the BA-AA deal will result in less competition and higher airfares between the US and Europe.

After attempts to reduce its number of flight attendants through voluntary methods mostly failed, American Airlines announced Wednesday that it will furlough 323 flight attendants on April 1. The furloughed employees will be offered voluntary travel separation that will allow them to continue using travel benefits for 5-10 years.

American Airlines (Dallas/Ft. Worth) placed an order Wednesday for 42 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners, worth more than $8 billion at list prices. American joins Continental and Northwest as the main US carriers to order the carbon-composite and titanium jet, which is designed to carry about 200 to 300 passengers on long-range flights using 20 percent less fuel than its predecessors. American, the world’s biggest airline by traffic, said it would take delivery of its 42 787-9s between 2012 and 2018. It also took out purchase rights on a further 58 787s that would be delivered between 2015 and 2020.

Authorities say at least six passengers who complained of bumps and bruises from turbulence on an American Airlines flight from Argentina to Miami are being treated for minor injuries. American spokesman Tim Smith says Flight 908 was making a descent into the airport before 7 a.m. when it hit severe turbulence at 30,000 feet. Six people - two flight attendants and four passengers - were taken to the hospital with back and neck injuries. The Boeing 777 carrying 246 passengers and 14 crew members from Buenos Aires landed safely.

Despite the big drop in fuel prices over the last two months, domestic capacity reductions American Airlines has been making are permanent, Chief Financial Officer Tom Horton said. American, like other carriers, has announced U.S. capacity reductions due to the high price of fuel, which soared to more than $147 a barrel on July 11. American, a unit of Fort Worth-based AMR Corp., said it would cut domestic capacity by as much as 12 percent after the busy summer travel season.

But since its July high, the price of oil has retreated. Light, sweet crude for October delivery settled at $103.26 on Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest settlement price since April 1. Even so, Horton said firmly in an interview with The Associated Press that the capacity cuts are for good.

“The airplanes that we’re grounding are older generation planes,” Horton said. “They burn 35 percent more fuel per seat than the new generation planes. So, when you ground those planes, it would be very difficult to bring them back, not just in operations cost but also in maintenance infrastructure. So, I would characterize those as permanent capacity reductions.”

Continuing its cutbacks planned for this fall, American Airlines (Dallas/Ft. Worth) has sent notices to 469 employees at five U.S. airports warning that they could lose their jobs around Nov. 1. Hardest hit would be the workforce at American’s second-biggest hub, Chicago O’Hare International Airport, where 353 employees received the layoff notices. The company has also notified 53 airport employees in Los Angeles, 28 in San Francisco, 27 in Raleigh-Durham, N.C., and eight in Columbus, Ohio.

American Airlines (Dallas/Ft. Worth) was fined $7.1 million by the FAA on Thursday for safety violations relating to maintenance issues and problems with its drug and alcohol testing programs. Nearly $4.5 million of the proposed fines stem from American’s continued operation of two MD-83 jetliners in December 2007 after pilots reported problems with the autopilot systems, the FAA said. Regulators also accuse American of operating planes without timely inspections of their emergency lighting systems and of unspecified “past deficiencies” regarding drug and alcohol testing.

Major airlines British Airways (London) and American Airlines (Dallas-Ft. Worth) are said to be close to striking a deal over a possible merger. BA is making a third attempt to join forces with its U.S. partner despite being twice turned away by officials in the US due to competition laws. It tried both in 1997 and 2002 to strike up a similar deal with AA but previously had its offer rejected.

Photo: AA and BA jets taxi at Manchester International Airport, England. (Photo Copyright Paul Markman)

Several of the major U.S. airlines announced second quarter operating results today, with heavy losses. All of the reporting airlines blamed sky high fuel prices for their disappointing results. Among the heavy hitters:

- Delta Air Lines (Atlanta) reported a $1 billion loss including special charges. The airline, however, earned a net profit of $137 million excluding special charges.

- American Airlines (Dallas/Ft. Worth) lost $1.45 billion in Q2, much of which was attributed to write downs of the value of American’s jet fleet, which the airline is trimming to save money. Excluding writedowns, AMR would have lost $284 million.

- Continental (Houston) lost $3 million in Q2 2008. Excluding a net gain of $22 million from one-time events, the carrier lost $25 million, or 25 cents per share. A year ago, Continental earned a profit of $228 million.

- US Airways (Phoenix) will report its quarterly earnings on Tuesday. Analysts, on average, expect the airline to lose $1.21 per share during the second quarter on revenue of $3.27 billion.

American Airlines (Fort Worth) could be eliminating more than 6,800 jobs later this year as the carrier struggles to survive record fuel costs. AMR Corporation, the parent of American Airlines and regional carrier American Eagle, said that it will cut domestic service 11-12% by the fourth quarter, which becomes a systemwide reduction of 8% when including international flights. In a memo to all employees, AMR said the employment reduction will be commensurate with the capacity cuts. AMR has about 85,500 employees, which means an 8% decrease would be about 6,850 workers.

American’s announcement is the latest furlough announcement in the airline industry, which also is trying to raise fares and fees to cope with record fuel prices. Other announced staff cuts include 4,000 at Delta Air Lines (Atlanta), 3,000 at Continental Airlines (Houston), 2,550 at United Airlines (Chicago) and 1,700 at U.S. Airways (Phoenix).

American Airlines (Fort Worth) will soon be offering passengers free Internet access on flights from New York to the West Coast. The carrier will be testing in-flight Internet today on selected services from JFK to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Miami after installing the Gogo WiFi service on fifteen (15) of its Boeing 767-200 aircraft. Passengers will be able to check e-mail and use Instant Messaging services on notebook computers and wireless-enabled devices such as smart phones. Initial services will be free. American ultimately plans to charge between $9.95 and $12.95 for the service, based on the duration of flights. The full test will last between six and nine months, when the airline will decide whether or not to introduce the network on all planes.

Photo: An American 767-200 arrives in Los Angeles. (Photo Copyright Andrew Brescini)

American Airlines (Fort Worth) announced today that it will start charging passengers to check all bags starting with tickets purchased after June 15. At its annual meeting in Fort Worth, Chairman, President and CEO Gerard Arpey said travelers would face a $15 charge for the first piece of luggage checked, the first time any major domestic airline has used this method to increase revenue. “These are difficult but necessary steps,” Arpey said, noting that rising oil prices have inflated the airline’s annual fuel costs by nearly $3 billiion since the start of the year.

Also on Wednesday, Arpey said American planned to cut its domestic capacity by up to 12% by retiring 40-45 American Airlines aircraft and 30-35 American Eagle aircraft starting in the fourth quarter of 2008. Some of the planes will be retired; others will be parked at a desert storage facility. Arpey added that fewer flights will lead to job cuts at both American and American Eagle.

Virgin America (San Francisco) today announced that it will seek government approval to serve Chicago O’Hare International Airport. Chicago would be the eighth city in the airline’s ever-growing network of service to primary airports in major urban cities. If successful, the carrier plans to offer four daily round-trip flights to both San Francisco and Los Angeles.

“Chicago is one of the nation’s top travel markets, a world-class city, and a perfect fit for our innovative, low-fare service,” said Virgin America President and Chief Executive Officer David Cush. “We want to bring Chicago travelers a better choice, with attractive fares and brand new planes that offer a unique, upscale flying experience – from leather seats to individual video touch-screens at every seatback. When more airlines compete, consumers win with lower fares and better service. We think that savvy Chicago travelers will find our high-value, low-fare service a breath of fresh air. The mayor, airport, and city have shown tremendous vision by investing in O’Hare’s future, with long-term investments, such as the new runway coming online this fall that will expand and modernize one of the world’s busiest travel hubs. We want to be part of O’Hare’s future.”

Virgin’s request may have started something of a controversy at the already congested airport. Once new landing rights are made available at O’Hare, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has said it plans to give priority to new entrants. However, United Airlines (Chicago) and American Airlines (Fort Worth), which cut flights several years ago at the federal government’s request, have long contended that they should be given precedence for landing rights. Mary Frances Fagan, a spokeswoman for American Airlines, said, “We welcome all competition. We look forward to flying our customers to the hundreds of destinations that they don’t fly to.”

Photo: Virgin America currently serves seven destinations with new Airbus aircraft. (Photo Copyright Maciek Flis - 360° Spotter)

Federal Officials are looking into an incident involving an American Airlines (Fort Worth) Boeing 767 that lost a panel from its belly section after taking off from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on its way to Paris. While flying over the Atlantic Ocean on April 20, the pilots heard a loud noise they thought was “cargo shifting". All of the people aboard the aircraft felt and heard noises as well. A flight attendant described it as “a loud shaking noise from the belly of the plane”. The noise was followed shortly by another one that “sounded like an explosion”. The jet continued its flight as if nothing had happened, but after the landing in Paris, the crew found out that a panel about two (2) feet by three (3) feet that was covering one of two air conditioners was missing. Upon the discovery, federal regulators initiated the investigation. American Airlines declined to comment on the matter. The airline’s flight department said the captain “did exactly what we want our captains to do. There was no way this crew could have known this panel had departed. If they had known, they obviously would have returned,” said Jim Kaiser, American’s manager of flight operations quality control, and Chuck Harman, the airline’s fleet captain for Boeing 757 and 767 planes.

American Airlines (Fort Worth) said Monday that it will follow several other U.S. carriers in implementing a charge for additional checked baggage beginning May 12. Like others, the additional charge for a second bag will be $25. The policy will not apply to passengers who have elite mileage status or who buy premium or full-fare tickets. It also will not apply to international itineraries, with the exception of those to Canada and U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands. The charge will apply to American Eagle travelers as well.

AMR Corp, parent of American Airlines (Dallas-Ft.Worth), reported a first-quarter loss on Wednesday as the company’s fuel bill rose 48 percent. The first-quarter loss amounted to $328 million, or $1.32 per share, compared with a profit of $81 million, or 30 cents per share, a year earlier. AMR also said it planned to reduce its 2008 mainline capacity by 1.4 percent for the year. Revenue rose to $5.7 billion from $5.4 billion a year earlier.

American Airlines (Fort Worth) released a statement saying that they were forced to cancel a total of 1,554 flights on Tuesday and Wednesday in order to complete inspections on its entire fleet of McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft. So far, 179 have been inspected and 60 have already been returned to service. American said they expect to cancel more than 900 flights again today (April 10).

Photo: American Airlines maintains a fleet of approximately 336 MD-80 series aircraft. (Photo Copyright Daniel Piotrowski)

Delta Air Lines (Atlanta) has become the latest US carrier to be affected by flight cancellation due to aircraft inspections. The airline expects about 275 flight cancellations through early Friday because of the need to inspect wiring bundles on its more than 100 McDonnell Douglas MD-88 aircraft. American Airlines (Fort Worth) has already cancelled over 450 flights after being forced to inspect its large fleet of MD-80 aircraft. Experts say these disruptions could be the first of many, given the sudden focus on complex federal airworthiness directives (AD) and the need to show compliance before a congressional hearing scheduled for April 3, 2008.

Photo: Delta currently operates around 117 of the McDonnell Douglas MD-88 aircraft. Three are seen here taxiing in Florida. (Photo Copyright Mark Lawrence - NYCAviation.com)