Gregory Polek has spent his entire career in aviation journalism with AIN, starting as a proofreader and assistant to then-managing editor Mary Mahoney in 1995 after serving an internship with&nbsp;New Jersey Monthly&nbsp;magazine and completing his B.A. degree in English/Writing at New Jersey’s William Paterson College. By 1997 Polek accepted a position as an associate editor, covering the regional airline beat for&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;in place of retiring industry veteran Don Anderson. The assignment took Polek across North America and Europe to profile regional airlines varying in size and mission from the likes of floatplane operators Kenmore Air and Chalk’s Ocean Airways to regional jet operators such as SkyWest and American Eagle. Today, in his dual role as Air Transport Editor and International Airshow Editor, Polek writes, edits, and manages AIN’s commercial aviation content while overseeing each of the company’s daily international air show publications in Paris, Farnborough, Singapore, and Dubai. Most recently Polek has assumed oversight of daily coverage of the Helicopter Association International’s annual Heli-Expo convention.

Senior Editor

Gregory Polek

In a February 1 letter to American Airlines employees, company chairman and CEO Thomas Horton identified $1.25 billion in annual employee-related cost reductions—estimated to involve between 12,000 and 14,000 job cuts—among a list of some $2 billion worth of annual cost-savings initiatives that include restructuring debt and leases, grounding of older airplanes and improving supplier contracts. Now in <a href="http://www.ainonline.com/?q=aviation-news/2011-11-29/amr-declares-bankruptcy">Chapter 11 bankruptcy</a>, American would also increase revenues by $1 billion a year through what it calls network-scale fleet optimization and product improvements, according to the letter.


Horton promised that the 20-percent cuts planned for all the company’s work groups would prove “fair and equitable” and would include management. “While the savings from each work group will be achieved somewhat differently, each will experience the same percentage reduction,” he wrote.


Meanwhile, American plans to invest an average of $2 billion a year in aircraft in an effort to build the youngest fleet in the industry by 2017. It also plans to increase departures by 20 percent over the next five years in Dallas/Fort Worth, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles and New York. Finally, it expects to invest “several hundred million dollars per year” in the modernization of its brand, products and services to attract so-called high-value customers.&nbsp;

American To Slash Employee Costs by $1.25 Billion

American to cut $1.25 billion in employee costs 

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