maintenance executive retiring
By D.R. STEWART World Staff Writer
Published: 12/6/2011 7:19 PM
Last Modified: 12/6/2011 7:19 PM
A week after filing a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition, executives at AMR Corp., the parent of American Airlines, said key senior leaders of the company — including a strong advocate for the airline’s in-house maintenance operations — are retiring.
AMR CEO Thomas Horton said Robert W. Reding, American’s executive vice president of operations, and Mark L. Burdette, vice president of employee relations, will retire Dec. 31.
Monte Ford, senior vice president and chief information officer, has resigned, effective Dec. 31, Horton said.
In addition, Beverly Goulet, American’s vice president of corporate development and treasurer, has been named chief restructuring officer, Horton said.
“We are fortunate to have so many talented leaders to fill some big shoes during a very critical time,” Horton said. “The changes we’re announcing today will ensure continuity in each role, while enabling us to broaden our team’s experience and capabilities — something that will be important as we lead American through the restructuring and reaffirm its position of leadership in the global airline industry.”
Reding, a 40-year veteran of the airline industry, will retire at the end of the year after 12 years with American.
Reding’s role will not be filled, Horton said, but some of his responsibilities will be assumed by James B. Ream, who has been named senior vice president of operations. With Reding’s retirement, Ream will assume responsibility for flight operations, operations planning & performance, operations finance & planning and the safety, security and environmental departments, in addition to his duties overseeing the airline’s maintenance & engineering operations, Horton said.
Reding served in a variety of management positions with American and American Eagle Airlines, its regional airline affiliate. Prior to moving to American, he was CEO of Canadian Regional Airlines and Reno Air, which merged with American in 1999.
Reding was an advocate for American’s maintenance bases during the last 10 years when many other U.S. airlines were outsourcing their heavy maintenance to U.S. and foreign maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) providers.
American’s Maintenance & Engineering Center in Tulsa employs 6,000 aircraft mechanics and is the largest non-government MRO in the world.
Don Videtich, international representative of the Transport Workers Union, which represents American’s mechanics and related work groups, said Reding has been supportive of American’s maintenance operations and the value of keeping the work in house and in the United States.
But Ream also has supported the company’s in-house MRO operations, Videtich said.
“Our experience with him (Ream) is not that much different than Bob Reding,” Videtich said. “I would liken this to Mr. Horton establishing around himself a team of guys who are going to take the company in a certain direction. In Continental’s bankruptcy, they put a team of 20 new executives together.
“They’re doing leadership changes simultaneously with the bankruptcy. It remains to be seen what it all means.”
Michael Boyd, president of the Boyd Group International, said the retirements of Reding and Burdette may simply mean their long service in the airline industry have earned them retirement pay and benefits too good to turn down.
“I think it’s a $1.8 million lump sum retirement (bonus) alone (for Reding),” Boyd said. “Reding’s been in the business for 30 or 40 years. I wouldn’t read too much into that (retirement).” Boyd said AMR executives will be cutting near-term costs but incurring long-term expenses and problems if they elect to downsize the company’s in-house maintenance capabilities in favor of outsourcing.
“I don’t believe it (maintenance) can be done any cheaper at an airline like American,” Boyd said. “You already have the expertise and the team in place — and they want to fix airplanes.
“Maintenance is not the problem: It has to do with debt and pensions. Period.”
In its bankruptcy filing, AMR listed assets of $24.72 billion and liabilities of $29.55 billion.
AMR has $4.1 billion in cash and short-term investments and more than $12 billion in long-term debt, company documents show.
AMR shares closed Tuesday at 70 cents, up 28 cents or 67 percent. More than 175.5 million shares were traded, more than eight times its average daily volume of 19.3 million shares.
By D.R. STEWART World Staff Writer
Copyright 2011 World Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material
