"TWA to shut JFK airport terminal"

Tuesday, September 25, 2001

TWA to shut JFK airport terminal
Cable News Network


NEW YORK (CNN) --Less than a week after its new parent company announced
it is cutting at least 20,000 jobs, the chairman of TWA said Monday the
airline will close its terminal and lay off its staff at John F. Kennedy
International Airport two months earlier than planned.

American Airlines announced in January it was buying the assets of TWA,
which is now operating as its subsidiary. American, American Eagle and
TWA have 138,000 employees.

"Effective October 7, American will operate all JFK flights from the AA
terminals with AA airplanes," said Chairman Bob Baker in a statement to
TWA employees. "This means we will close the TWA terminal in October,
rather than in December as we planned.

"Unhappily, this means we must give furlough notices to all TWA airport
and maintenance employees at Kennedy. Flight attendants and pilots are
expected to be furloughed as well.

"Employment decisions in those latter workgroups are being made
separately and will be announced as they are made."

Baker called the decision to accelerate the terminal's closing
"difficult and serious." His plan, he said, had been to integrate
American and TWA's workforces "over several months," using attrition,
retirement and other means "to keep as many of you on the payroll as
possible. Obviously, the events of September 11 changed all that."

Since those events, in which four planes were hijacked and crashed, the
number of passengers flying has plummeted, leading President Bush to
sign an industry bailout bill over the weekend.

"I know this news comes at a terrible time for you, as New Yorkers, as
Americans, and as employees," Baker said. "I wish there were other
options. But as you know, our company is in a state of emergency and is
suffering an extraordinary financial crisis. These times demand
immediate action."

The announcement means that the TWA name will be gone by the end of the
year, said spokeswoman Julia Bishop-Cross. TWA was founded in 1930 by
the merger of Western Air Express and Transcontinental Air Transport,
and at one time was among the premier airlines in the world.

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