American Airlines Notifies 11K Employees Of Possible Layoffs, Likely Only To Dismiss 4K

American Airlines has had a run of bad luck lately, and whether or not you believe that the air-travel giant is merely sleeping in a bed of its own making, financial woes and disgruntled boycotts are the least of their worries, what with an announced potential layoff of 11,000 employees. Gee, maybe they could afford to keep their employees if they hadn’t gone on an Apple spending spree putting iPads into the hands of their pilots and luggage checkers.

We kid because we hurt.

In all seriousness (because job loss is serious business), layoff notices went out to mechanics and ground workers whose jobs may be affected as the airline goes through bankruptcy restructuring. A bit of good news: AA spokesman Bruce Hicks only expects fewer that 40% of employees receiving pink slips will actually lose their jobs, dropping the 11,000 number to 4,400, according to Newser. So if you work for American Airlines and get one of these notifications, you have roughly a 50/50 chance of being axed.

The spokesman also said that federal law requires American Airlines to notify anyone whose position may change, including employees who might get “bumped” by senior employees whose jobs are eliminated or outsourced, reports AP. Remember that American announced back in February that they would be cutting 14,000 jobs, including 13,000 held by union workers. If Hicks is correct, American Airlines has reduced that number to roughly a third of the original estimate.

So all in all, that’s a dramatic improvement, even though roughly 4,000 people will still end up out of the job. Also, that crack at the beginning about the iPads isn’t exactly fair either, since the upgrade will prove to be a huge money saver. It’s estimated that American Airlines will save up to $1.2 million every year by using electronic manuals instead of paper, so Steve Jobs actually saved jobs.

Do you fly American Airlines?