Fort Worth, Texas-based American Airlines plans to close its flight attendant base at San Francisco International Airport at the end of January, meaning 400 workers will need to transfer to new locations for their jobs.
San Franciso was once one of American Airlines’ largest flight attendant hubs and a launching point for West Coast trips, but it has shrunk by about 40% in recent years and is now among the smaller bases. To compare, American has nearly 6,000 flight attendants based at DFW International Airport, its largest hub.
“Over the past few years, American’s network and schedule have evolved based on a number of factors, including our size, shifting customer demand and changes to our fleet,” said spokeswoman Sarah Jantz in a statement. “As we look at the future of our network, we expect that San Francisco will maintain the same level of flying it does today, but there are no plans to grow San Francisco and no future flying prospects based on our current network strategy.”
American closed its pilot base in San Francisco in 2011.
Flight attendants will have the chance to move to one of American’s 10 other bases, but will have to go somewhere other than Los Angeles because that base is already overstaffed with the reduction in flying to Asia because of COVID-19 restrictions in places such as China, said Association of Professional Flight Attendant spokesman Paul Hartshorn.
“It is difficult to comprehend these types of disruptive decisions when American is returning to profitability,” leadership for the Association of Professional Flight Attendants said in a message to members. “The San Francisco flight attendant base has been part of American Airlines for many years. Flight Attendants in San Francisco have been loyal to American through many industry ups and downs.”
American Airlines has been the world’s largest airline for the last two years as its returns from the pandemic downturn. It made its first profit without government aid since 2020 during the second quarter of this year, bringing in $476 million in net income on record revenues of $13.4 billion, driven by high demand from leisure travelers and increasing airfares.
With the San Francisco base closure, American will have 10 flight attendant bases at DFW, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Chicago, New York, Boston, Miami, Charlotte, Philadelphia and Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.
