American Airlines outsources air cargo and baggage handling

American Airlines (AA) is planning to axe 1,200 airport cargo and baggage jobs as part of a bankruptcy restructuring plan to cut its wage bill by $1.25 billion.

All AA jobs at airports in six US cities and two in Canada will be outsourced.

The Fort Worth-based carrier said the staff changes would be implemented within the next 60 to 120 days.

AA also plans to shut its regional reservations office in Tucson, Arizona.

“The decisions in reshaping these departments — including in some cases, outsourcing, creating different tiers of work, closing some operations and moving some work to home-based positions – were not made lightly,” said AA spokesman Bruce Hicks.

“While very difficult, all of these approaches are designed to preserve tens of thousands of jobs and return American to a sustainable, profitable airline.”

AMR Corp, the parent company of American Airlines, has reported a $1.7 billion loss for the first quarter, mostly on costs related to its bankruptcy restructuring. AA and AMR filed for bankruptcy protection in Novembe

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