Business

Service turbulence grows at American Airlines

American Airlines is butting heads with its pilots union over deteriorating service at the bankrupt carrier.

American cut 300 flights, or more than 1 percent of its schedule, between Tuesday and Sunday to minimize cancellations and reduce delays, according to a wsj.com report yesterday.

Nevertheless, only 55 percent of flights arrived within 14 minutes of their published schedule on Saturday, an American spokesman said. By midday yesterday, the nation’s No. 3 airline by traffic had canceled 18 outbound flights and its on-time performance was 70 percent, well below the carrier’s target of 82 percent, according to FlightStats.com.

The carrier blamed the problems on the union, but the Allied Pilots Association denied that it sanctioned or encouraged a work slowdown or pilot sickout.

A US bankruptcy judge this month granted the company’s motion to abrogate its current pilots contract so the airline could impose terms the company said it needs to cut labor costs and increase productivity. The union overwhelmingly rejected a cost-saving tentative agreement.