American Air blunder forces carrier to cut leave offer in half

American Airlines Group botched its offer of paid time off to some pilots, forcing the carrier to pull back offers for 1,200 slots and award short-term voluntary leave to just 600 of them. One hundred pilots of Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 narrow-body jets can start leave Wednesday, the airline said by email to the crew members. Another 500 can begin their time off April 6. The carrier discovered the error Tuesday, the deadline for pilots to bid on the leaves, which give them partial salary. “The processing of this award has certainly created uncertainty and confusion,” Chip Long, managing director of flight line operations, said in the memo. Temporary time off will be awarded to additional pilots in May. American has offered leaves across its workforce to reduce costs while slashing its global schedule amid the collapse in demand caused by the new coronavirus. American separately offered time off to 836 pilots flying its largest aircraft, the majority of which are temporarily grounded as nearly all international flights have been suspended. Those leaves, along with 38 for aviators assigned to Embraer SA E190s, also take effect Wednesday. The E190s are set to be retired early. “Over the past few days, we have added to the stress and uncertainty in finalizing the voluntary leave of absence awards,” Kimball Stone, senior VP of American’s flight and integrated operations center, said in an earlier email advising pilots of the mistaken offer.<br/>