American Eagle to unveil new name; and does

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American Airlines' regional carrier, American Eagle, plans to change its name and logo, with the changes expected to be unveiled in the next few weeks.

sjean@dallasnews.com

Published: 03 January 2014 08:34 PM

Updated: 03 January 2014 08:35 PM


What’s one more change at American Airlines these days? Its regional carrier, American Eagle, plans to change its name and logo.

The changes are expected to be unveiled in the next few weeks “to distinguish ourselves” from other regional carriers that fly for American, Eagle president Pedro Fábregas told employees this week in a message. American Eagle Airlines is the company-owned regional carrier for Fort Worth-based American.

“It was put on the back burner, and now it’s back,” said American Airlines spokesman Matt Miller. “American Eagle is the brand of the regional feed, but we’ve diversified that feed and now have regional service provided by other carriers … so it gets to be a little confusing.”

Miller wouldn’t disclose any possible new names or logos, but he said the company is taking into consideration the results of an Eagle employee survey from last year.

Eagle executives talked about changing the name in 2012, when American began to add other regional carriers. But that was before American and its parent AMR Corp. announced a merger with US Airways as part of its plan to emerge from bankruptcy as a more competitive carrier.

Last month, American completed the merger and emerged from bankruptcy as the world’s largest airline.

Chautauqua Airlines, ExpressJet, Republic Airlines and SkyWest all provide regional flights for American. In addition, US Airways uses a few different regional carriers.

“Looking forward to 2014, there will be both change and opportunity,” Eagle’s Fábregas said in his letter.

Those changes may include a new labor contract with its pilots, with talks starting as soon as next week

On Friday, the Eagle pilots’ union said it will make a contract counterproposal to management within a few days.

On Dec. 20, Eagle management proposed a contract with its more than 2,700 pilots that would guarantee they would get the new, larger jets they need to ensure their future if they made further concessions to help reduce the airline’s costs.

William Sprague, chairman of the Air Line Pilots Association’s Master Executive Council at Eagle, said the union decided to make a counterproposal based on “the direction that’s best for Eagle pilots” after two days of meetings in Dallas. The union plans to give its counterproposal to Eagle management within a couple of days, he said.

Sprague said Friday that he did not have specific details of what the union’s counterproposal will entail, but said it largely focuses on enhancements and protections to Eagle pilots’ career track to American.

American declined to comment on the latest development with its pilots’ union.

However, Fábregas told employees in his letter this week that “the Eagle team and the ALPA leadership team are committed to reaching an agreement.”

No meeting between union and Eagle officials has been scheduled yet. If a tentative agreement is reached by Jan. 10, it will be announced that Eagle will be getting 60 new Embraer 175 planes, or American’s management team will start considering other options to the Embraer, Fábregas said.

A letter to pilots last week from union leaders in Chicago detailed some of the concerns about changes to compensation, vacation, profit sharing, career progression and more.

Follow Sheryl Jean on Twitter

at @SJeanDallas.
 
Perhaps an adorable little Beagle with equally adorable little vestigial wings, indicating that while it might be able to fly, the odds are against it getting off the ground on time? I'll take my answer off the air.
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