American Airlines (AA) has made a total of 15 employees redundant, a little under half of their local workforce, the airline confirmed yesterday.

An AA communications representative said both AA and US Airways employees are impacted. AA is the parent company of US Airways.

“Currently, the airline (company) has 38 employees in Bermuda. As a result of this schedule change, 15 employees — 10 AA, and five US Airways — will be affected and will receive a severance package. Employees were advised on Monday, January 5 and will continue their employment through Friday, January 16. Employees that work through January 16 will be paid until January 31, 2015.”

She also said: “Through this process, AA is adhering to all labour laws in Bermuda.”

The representative explained that AA is making adjustments to its flight schedule between Bermuda and the United States. “The airlines will be cancelling its service between Philadelphia and Bermuda between January 7 and March 28, and its seasonal service between Bermuda and Charlotte and Bermuda and Washington DC is also cancelled until the summer season.

“The last flight between Philadelphia and Bermuda was operated on January 6, and flights will restart on March 29. AA continues to offer access to Bermuda with daily flights from Miami and New York-JFK.”

She explained the flights from Philadelphia, Charlotte and DCA are US Airways while the flights from Miami and JFK are American.

“This change is part of our constant evaluation of our overall combined network to ensure we are maximising our fleet and profitability and matching customer demand.”

She added: “American continues to work hard to promote Bermuda as a destination. We have a firm commitment to the island and its people and our objective is to work together to continue increasing passenger traffic to the island.”