KANSAS CITY, Mo. - American Airlines will close its aircraft overhaul base at Kansas City International Airport next year, sources tell NBC Action News.
The base once provided a paycheck for thousands of maintenance workers, but the staff has been chopped over the years by layoffs and shifting employees to other facilities. The anticipated closure will cost an estimated 500 jobs.
Officials refused to discuss the announcement because the airline wants to tell its employees Wednesday morning. Gordon Clark, president of the Transport Workers Union Local 530, told NBC Action News workers would be briefed around 7 a.m.
American Airlines officials met with city leaders for more than an hour Tuesday afternoon in Mayor Mark Funkhouser's City Hall office, according to the Mayor's Chief of Staff Kendrick Blackwood. Aviation Director Mark Van Loh, City Manager Wayne Cauthen and Mayor Pro Tem were among those meeting with airline officials.
Cauthen and the mayor's office refused comment on the details of the meeting. Several council members said they were unaware of the meeting.
Skaggs said he could not discuss the meeting before the airline's announcement tomorrow.
Last summer, American Airlines said it was shifting employees to its larger facility in Tulsa, Okla. Months later, hundreds of employees accepted a voluntary buyout, while hundreds of others were laid off.
The airline will owe the city money for failing to live up to its contractual expectations in the 25-year lease, but the amount was unknown Tuesday night. The airline has already been paying the city penalties for failing to meet staffing levels at the base.
The recession and gas costs have particularly hurt the airline industry as they have struggled to be profitable.
"A lot of people are talking about it and wondering if the rumors are true," said a worker at the base who has been at the facility for 32 years. "If it's true, people want to know what kind of early retirement will be offered and whether there will be positions in Tulsa. We'll find out a lot more tomorrow."
The base, originally operated under the TWA logo, has been in Kansas City since the 1950s.
