The voluntary Chapter 11 filing in New York City includes AMR Corp. and U.S.-based subsidiaries including American Airlines and American Eagle.
American becomes the last major U.S. legacy airline to file for bankruptcy reorganization. Delta Air Lines and United Airlines have already been through the process. Delta has since merged with Northwest Airlines and United with Continental Airlines, allowing the carriers to return to profitability and spread costs across larger organizations.
AMR has lost more than $10 billion since 2001, The Wall Street Journal reported.
AMR wants to reduce labor costs and has been unable to reach agreement on a new contract with its pilots’ union. The bankruptcy filing could allow AMR to take a harder line in labor negotiations, since federal bankruptcy law permits reorganizing companies to reject contracts.
AMR said American Airlines is operating normal flight schedules, honoring tickets and reservations as usual, and making normal refunds and exchanges.
American is a major carrier at Dayton International Airport. In September, the airline and its subsidiaries flew more than 13,300 passengers out of the Dayton airport, up 32 percent from September 2010.
AMR said it will proceed with its order earlier this year to buy 460 planes, at a cost of $38 billion, from Airbus and Boeing Co. The carrier wants the new aircraft in order to improve fuel efficiency and modernize its old fleet of more than 600 planes.