A Record Year for American Airlines Pilot Retirements

The Allied Pilots Association (APA) says this is a record year for retirements for the American Airlines pilots. And most of the retirements are coming before age 60.

So far this year, 430 pilots have retired from American Airlines. That is a single-year record and we still have four months to go.
Of the retirements, only 11 were normal (age 60) retirements and 23 were late (past age 60). The remaining 396 were early retirements, although a significant number of those were 58-59 years of age.

With the economic turmoil this year, many of the recent retirees have reported that the retirement value lock-in feature, a contractual protection AMR management wants to eliminate, was an invaluable financial safety net. Stay tuned as the retirement march continues through the end of the year.

That lock-in feature lets pilots say they want to retire in 90 days, and the value of their defined-contribution pension fund is locked in at its value at the beginning of the period. After the 90 days, they can withdraw their retirement papers or go forward -- and with the stock market going down, a lot of them are going forward.