> Maybe he would start with these ridiculous salaries the CEOs are making. <
Monday September 24, 7:08 pm Eastern Time
American Air Chief Forgoes Salary
By Marcus Kabel
DALLAS (Reuters) - American Airlines's chairman and CEO on Monday said he would give up his pay for the rest of the year to help the world's largest carrier cope with an industry-wide downturn since the Sept. 11 hijack attacks.
In a recorded message to employees, Don Carty said the future of American and the entire industry remained in jeopardy despite a $15 billion rescue plan for U.S. airlines approved by Congress last week.
Carty urged employees to work hard to restore public confidence in air travel and bring back travelers who are staying away in droves. American is a unit of Fort Worth, Texas-based AMR Corp. (NYSE:AMR - news).
``What's clear to me, however, is that we have begun a chapter of American history that will likely require some measure of sacrifice from all of us,'' Carty said.
``And with that in mind, I am informing the AMR Board of Directors that, in light of our calamitous financial condition, and in recognition of the men and women who have paid the highest price, I will forego any personal compensation, including my salary, from now until the end of the year,'' Carty said.
Carty's annual salary is $772,500, American spokesman Al Becker said, adding he did not have a total for stock options that might be part of Carty's compensation package.
``I realize this step by itself will have relatively little impact on our company's overall financial health,'' Carty said, ''but my hope is that it will underscore the depth of my commitment to this great airline, and my willingness as its leader to share in the sacrifices necessary to get us back on our feet.''
AMR Corp last week said the sudden plunge in passenger numbers caused by the Sept. 11 attacks would force it to cut its schedule by 20 percent and slash at least 20,000 jobs from its global workforce of about 138,000 at American, subsidiary TWA and regional airline American Eagle.
Carty said AMR was setting up a program to turn money back into the carrier from other managers and employees who volunteer to take a pay cut of any size for any amount of time, but added that ``the decision to participate is strictly up to the individual''.
``While no one should feel obliged to participate, there is one additional incentive: for every dollar of voluntary pay cuts, 20 cents will be put in a fund devoted to meeting the educational needs of the children of the American Airlines employees who perished on September 11th and to helping unique hardship cases that arise as a result of the job reductions,'' he added.
American lost 17 pilots and flight attendants when two of its planes were commandeered by suicide hijackers and crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Two United Airlines jetliners were also hijacked. One crashed into the World Trade Tower and the other went down in a Pennsylvania field.
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