American Airlines to Furlough Up to 175 Pilots

American Airlines said that it will furlough up to 175 pilots in the first half of 2010, beginning at the end of February. The airline issued a statement calling the furlough “unfortunate,” and said it was a result of the economy and reduction in capacity over the past 18 months.

That, coupled with lower-than-expected pilot attrition, caused a pilot surplus. The airline statement called it a “painful but necessary decision,” saying the furloughs will align the number of pilots with the size of American’s current operations.

American said that it has been working with the Allied Pilots Association to develop possible furlough mitigation solutions to ease this transition and will continue to do so.

The airline said it had worked with the APA to move up the furlough date by one day to achieve eligibility for subsidized COBRA medical benefits for the first group of furloughed pilots.