American Airlines Pilots Reject Contract

American Airlines pilots rejected a new four-year labor contract, dealing a heavy blow to the carrier’s plans to keep down costs and overhaul its fleet. More than 60% of the Allied Pilots Assn. members voted against the pact, which would have given them a 3% wage increase this year and an additional 2% in 1999. The airline, whose parent is Dallas-based AMR Corp., said it was “extremely disappointed� by the rejection but did not say whether it would scuttle plans to overhaul its fleet. The airline pledged in November to buy 103 jets from Boeing Co. and take out options on 527 more in one of the biggest commercial airplane orders in history. But Chief Executive Robert Crandall said then that the Boeing deal, which at list prices was worth about $6.5 billion and potentially as much as $35 billion, would only go through if pilots ratified the new labor contract. Airline executives said the vote did not mean the Boeing deal would be automatically scrapped. “We did say it would be contingent on a pilot deal and we’ll need to continue looking at that. We obviously don’t have a deal yet,� spokeswoman Andrea Rader said. The carrier said in a statement that it was consulting with the pilots association board of directors and mediators on the future of the contract negotiations.