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AA looks for normal sked
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February 15, 1999: 10:31 a.m. ET
Airline hopes to have all flights back in the air by Tuesday as pilots return
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - American Airlines may have all its flights back in the air by Tuesday as more pilots heed a federal judge's return to work order, the airline said Monday.
Officials at the nation's second-biggest airline said canceled flights were down to about 14 percent of its 2,250 scheduled flights on Presidents Day, in sharp contrast to last week, when thousands of passengers were stranded at airports.
Airline officials said the usual number of pilots sick at any given time is 300 to 400. American said the number of its 9,200 pilots still reported sick had dropped to about 900 late Sunday from a peak of more than 2,400 late last week.
The scene at New York's LaGuardia Airport Monday morning was far less tense than last week. Passengers interviewed at the terminal seemed more optimistic about getting planes to their destinations.
The pilots began calling in sick and refusing overtime on Feb. 6 in a dispute with Fort Worth, Texas-based AMR Corp. (AMR), American's holding company.
The dispute arose from the airline's purchase of Reno Air, a small West Coast airline, in December.
The pilots' union, the Allied Pilots Association, protested pay discrepancies involving 300 Reno pilots, who are paid roughly half as much as American pilots. The American pilots are concerned this could lead to an overall erosion of pay.
American says it will integrate the Reno pilots on American terms, but that it must occur gradually over the next 18 months.
On Saturday, U.S. District Judge Joe Kendall found the pilots' union at American Airlines in contempt of his order to end the sickout and imposed a $10 million fine to cover the airline's estimated losses.
He scheduled a hearing Wednesday to determine how much the pilots should be fined. Union officials said they "are doing everything" to the pilots to return to work.
The job action, which came just before the Presidents Day holiday, left thousands of passengers stranded in airports. Analysts believe the job action has cost American Airlines an estimated $90 million.
AMR stock closed down 5/16 at 55-1/8 Friday.
-- from staff and wire reports. 
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