American Airlines and its parent corporation, AMR, are hoping to finally reach a contract agreement with pilots this year after six years of negotiations. Although American declared 'significant' progress in negotiations in the last week, union representatives claim the two sides are still very far apart in terms of finding an agreement on pay structure for pilots. Company officials are optimistic an agreement with pilots will ease the way to reaching similar accords with mechanics and flight attendants, which will in turn go a long way to eliminating company losses over the last three years.
See "AMR Confronts ?Wide Gulf? on Pilot Pay as Clock Runs on Talks", Mary Schlangenstein and Mary Jane Credeur, Business Week, November 13, 2011