1.        Chapter 11 Reorganization

Overview

As previously discussed, on November 29, 2011, AMR and certain of its direct and indirect domestic subsidiaries filed voluntary petitions for relief under the Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. The Chapter 11 Cases are being jointly administered under the caption "in re AMR Corporation, et al, Case No. 11-15463-SHL."

The Company and the other Debtors are operating as "debtors-in-possession" under the jurisdiction of the Bankruptcy Court and the applicable provisions of the Bankruptcy Code. In general, as debtors-in-possession under the Bankruptcy Code, we are authorized to continue to operate as an ongoing business but may not engage in transactions outside the ordinary course of business without the prior approval of the Bankruptcy Court. The Bankruptcy Code enables the Company to continue to operate its business without interruption, and the Bankruptcy Court has granted additional relief covering, among other things, obligations to (i) employees, (ii) taxing authorities, (iii) insurance providers, (iv) independent contractors for improvement projects, (v) foreign vendors, (vi) other airlines pursuant to certain interline agreements, and (vii) certain vendors deemed critical to the Debtors' operations.

While operating as debtors-in-possession under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, the Debtors may sell or otherwise dispose of or liquidate assets or settle liabilities, subject to the approval of the Bankruptcy Court or otherwise as permitted in the ordinary course of business. Moreover, the Debtors have not yet prepared or filed with the Bankruptcy Court a plan of reorganization. The ultimate plan of reorganization, which would be subject to acceptance by the requisite majorities of empowered creditors under the Bankruptcy Code and approved by the Bankruptcy Court, could materially change the amounts and classifications in the historical Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.

The Company's Chapter 11 Cases followed an extended effort by the Company to restructure its business to strengthen its competitive and financial position. However, the Company's substantial cost disadvantage compared to its larger competitors, all of which restructured their costs and debt through Chapter 11, became increasingly untenable given the accelerating impact of global economic uncertainty and resulting revenue instability, volatile and rising fuel prices, and intensifying competitive challenges.

No assurance can be given as to the value, if any, that may be ascribed to the Debtors' various pre-petition liabilities and other securities. The Company cannot predict what the ultimate value of any of its securities may be and it remains too early to determine whether holders of any such securities will receive any distribution in the Debtors' reorganization. In particular, in most cases under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, holders of equity securities receive little or no recovery of value from their investment. Accordingly, the Debtors urge that caution be exercised with respect to existing and future investments in any of these securities or other Debtor claims. In addition, trading in the Company's common stock and certain debt securities on the NYSE was suspended on January 5, 2012, and the Company's common stock and such debt securities were delisted by the Securities and Exchange Commission from the NYSE on January 30, 2012. On January 5, 2012, the Company's common stock began trading under the symbol "AAMRQ" on the OTCQB marketplace, operated by OTC Markets Group (www.otcmarkets.com).

General Information

Notices to Creditors; Effect of Automatic Stay. The Debtors have begun the process of seeking to notify all known current or potential creditors that the Chapter 11 Cases had been filed. Subject to certain exceptions under the Bankruptcy Code, the filing of the Debtors' Chapter 11 Cases automatically enjoined, or stayed, the continuation of most judicial or administrative proceedings or filing of other actions against the Debtors or their property to recover on, collect or secure a claim arising prior to the Petition Date. Thus, for example, most creditor actions to obtain possession of property from the Debtors, or to create, perfect or enforce any lien against the property of the Debtors, or to collect on monies owed or otherwise exercise rights or remedies with respect to a prepetition claim, are enjoined unless and until the Bankruptcy Court lifts the automatic stay as to any such claim. Vendors are being paid for goods furnished and services provided after the Petition Date in the ordinary course of business.

 

Appointment of Creditors' Committee. On December 5, 2011, the U.S. Trustee for the Southern District of New York, a unit of the Department of Justice, appointed a statutory official committee of unsecured creditors for the Chapter 11 Cases. The Bankruptcy Code provides for the U.S. Trustee to appoint a statutory committee of creditors holding unsecured claims as soon as practicable after the commencement of a Chapter 11 case. The statutory creditors' committee ordinarily consists of holders of the seven largest unsecured claims who are willing to serve. A statutory creditors' committee represents the interests of all unsecured creditors in a bankruptcy case.

Rejection of Executory Contracts. Under Section 365 and other relevant sections of the Bankruptcy Code, the Debtors may assume, assume and assign, or reject certain executory contracts and unexpired leases, including, without limitation, agreements relating to aircraft and aircraft engines (collectively, Aircraft Property) and leases of real property, subject to the approval of the Bankruptcy Court and certain other conditions. Under the Bankruptcy Code, the Debtors' rights to assume, assume and assign, or reject unexpired leases of non-residential real estate expire on March 27, 2012 (subject to further extension by the Bankruptcy Court but not to exceed 210 days from the Petition Date). In general, rejection of an executory contract or unexpired lease is treated as a prepetition breach of the executory contract or unexpired lease in question and, subject to certain exceptions, relieves the Debtors from performing their future obligations under such executory contract or unexpired lease but entitles the contract counterparty or lessor to a prepetition general unsecured claim for damages caused by such deemed breach. Counterparties to such rejected contracts or leases have the right to file claims against the Debtors' estate for such damages. Generally, the assumption of an executory contract or unexpired lease requires the Debtors to cure existing defaults under such executory contract or unexpired lease.

Any description of an executory contract or unexpired lease elsewhere in these Notes or in the report to which these Notes are attached, including where applicable the Debtors' express termination rights or a quantification of their obligations, must be read in conjunction with, and is qualified by, any rights the Debtors or counterparties have under Section 365 of the Bankruptcy Code.

The Debtors expect that liabilities subject to compromise and resolution in the Chapter 11 Cases will arise in the future as a result of damage claims created by the Debtors' rejection of various executory contracts and unexpired leases. Due to the uncertain nature of many of the potential rejection claims, the magnitude of such claims is not reasonably estimable at this time. Such claims may be material (see "Liabilities Subject to Compromise" in Note 1 to the consolidated financial statements).

Special Protection Applicable to Leases and Secured Financing of Aircraft and Aircraft Equipment. Notwithstanding the general discussion above of the impact of the automatic stay, under Section 1110 of the Bankruptcy Code, beginning 60 days after filing a petition under Chapter 11, certain secured parties, lessors and conditional sales vendors may have a right to take possession of certain qualifying Aircraft Property that is leased or subject to a security interest or conditional sale contract, unless the Debtors, subject to approval by the Bankruptcy Court, agree to perform under the applicable agreement, and cure any defaults as provided in Section 1110 (other than defaults of a kind specified in Section 365(b)(2) of the Bankruptcy Code). Taking such action does not preclude the Debtors from later rejecting the applicable lease or abandoning the Aircraft Property subject to the related security agreement.

The Debtors may extend the 60-day period by agreement of the relevant financing party, with Bankruptcy Court approval. In the absence of an agreement or cure as described above or such an extension, the financing party may take possession of the Aircraft Property and enforce any of its contractual rights or remedies to sell, lease or otherwise retain or dispose of such equipment.

The 60-day period under Section 1110 in the Chapter 11 Cases expired on January 27, 2012. In accordance with the Bankruptcy Court's Order Authorizing the Debtors to (i) Enter into Agreements Under Section 1110(a) of the Bankruptcy Code, (ii) Enter into Stipulations to Extend the Time to Comply with Section 1110 of the Bankruptcy Code and (iii) File Redacted Section 1110(b) Stipulations, dated December 23, 2011, the Debtors have entered into agreements to extend the automatic stay or agreed to perform and cure defaults under financing agreements with respect to certain aircraft in their fleet and other Aircraft Property. While the Debtors have reached agreements on, or agreements on key aspects of, renegotiated terms with respect to certain of their Aircraft Properties and are continuing to negotiate terms with respect to many of their other Aircraft Property financings, the ultimate outcome of these negotiations cannot be predicted with certainty. To the extent the Debtors are unable to reach definitive agreements with Aircraft Property financing parties, those parties may seek to repossess the subject Aircraft Property. The loss of a significant number of aircraft could result in a material adverse effect on the Debtors' financial and operating performance.

 

In accordance with Section 1110 of the Bankruptcy Code, as of December 31, 2011, the Company had rejected 24 aircraft leases relating to 20 MD-80 aircraft and four Fokker 100 aircraft. In addition, since December 31, 2011, the Company has rejected an additional 9 aircraft leases and mortgages relating to one MD-80 aircraft, seven Boeing 757-200 aircraft, and one Airbus A300-600R aircraft. In addition, the Company filed a motion with the Bankruptcy Court to modify the leases of the Super ATR aircraft. As of February 15, 2012, 21 of the aircraft had been returned to the lessor as allowed under the modified agreement. The remaining 18 aircraft will be returned to the lessor during 2012 and 2013. In January 2012, American entered into agreements under Section 1110(a) of the Bankruptcy Code to retain 350 aircraft, including Boeing 737-800, Boeing 757-200, Boeing 767-300ER, Boeing 777-200ER, Bombardier CRJ-700, and McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft on the terms provided in the related financing documents.

Magnitude of Potential Claims The Debtors will file with the Bankruptcy Court schedules and statements of financial affairs setting forth, among other things, the assets and liabilities of the Debtors, subject to the assumptions filed in connection therewith. All of the schedules are subject to further amendment or modification.

Bankruptcy Rule 3003(c)(3) requires the Bankruptcy Court to fix the time within which proofs of claim must be filed in a Chapter 11 case pursuant to section 501 of the Bankruptcy Code. This Bankruptcy Rule also provides that any creditor who asserts a claim against the Debtors that arose prior to the Petition Date and whose claim (i) is not listed on the Debtors' schedules or (ii) is listed on the schedules as disputed, contingent, or unliquidated, must file a proof of claim. The Bankruptcy Court has not yet established a date and time by which such proofs of claim must be filed.

Differences between amounts scheduled by the Debtors and claims by creditors will be investigated and resolved in connection with the claims resolution process. In light of the expected number of creditors, the claims resolution process may take considerable time to complete. Accordingly, the ultimate number and amount of allowed claims is not presently known, nor can the ultimate recovery with respect to allowed claims be presently ascertained.

Collective Bargaining Agreements. The Bankruptcy Code provides a process for the modification and/or rejection of collective bargaining agreements (CBAs). In particular, Section 1113(c) of the Code permits a debtor to reject its CBAs if the debtor satisfies a number of statutorily prescribed substantive and procedural prerequisites and obtains the Bankruptcy Court's approval to reject the CBAs. The 1113(c) process requires that a debtor must make proposals to its unions to modify existing CBAs based on the most complete and reliable information available at the time the proposals are made. The proposed modifications must be necessary to permit the reorganization of the debtor and must assure that all the affected parties are treated fairly and equitably. The debtor must provide the unions with all information necessary to evaluate the proposals, and meet at reasonable times and confer in good faith with the unions in an effort to reach mutually agreeable modifications to the CBAs. If consensual agreements are not reached, the debtor may file a motion with the Bankruptcy Court requesting approval to reject the CBAs. Rejection of the CBAs is appropriate if the Court finds the debtor's proposals are necessary for its reorganization, are fair and equitable, and that the unions refused to agree to the proposals without good cause. American commenced the Section 1113(c) process with its unions on February 1, 2012. AMR Eagle intends to commence the Section 1113(c) process with its unions soon.

Plan of reorganization. The Debtors have the exclusive right for 120 days after the Petition Date to file a plan of reorganization and, if they do so, 60 additional days to obtain necessary acceptances of the plan. The Debtors exclusivity period may be extended by the Court, with good cause, for up to 18 months from the Petition Date. If the Debtors' exclusivity period lapses, any party in interest may file a plan of reorganization for any of the Debtors. In addition to being voted on by holders of impaired claims and equity interests, a plan of reorganization must satisfy certain requirements of the Bankruptcy Code and must be approved, or confirmed, by the Bankruptcy Court in order to become effective. A plan of reorganization has been accepted by holders of claims against and equity interests in the Debtors if (1) at least one-half in number and two-thirds in dollar amount of claims actually voting in each impaired class of claims have voted to accept the plan and (2) at least two-thirds in amount of equity interests actually voting in each impaired class of equity interests has voted to accept the plan.

Under certain circumstances set forth in Section 1129(b) of the Bankruptcy Code, the Bankruptcy Court may confirm a plan even if such plan has not been accepted by all impaired classes of claims and equity interests. A class of claims or equity interests that does not receive or retain any property under the plan on account of such claims or interests is deemed to have voted to reject the plan. The precise requirements and evidentiary showing for confirming a plan notwithstanding its rejection by one or more impaired classes of claims or equity interests depends upon a number of factors, including the status and seniority of the claims or equity interests in the rejecting class (i.e., secured claims or unsecured claims, subordinated or senior claims, preferred or common stock). Generally, with respect to common stock interests, a plan may be "crammed down" even if the shareowners receive no recovery if the proponent of the plan demonstrates that (1) no class junior to the common stock is receiving or retaining property under the plan and (2) no class of claims or interests senior to the common stock is being paid more than in full.

 

The availability and utilization of net operating losses (and utilization of AMT credits) post-emergence is uncertain at this time and will be highly influenced by the composition of restructuring plan alternatives that may be considered and ultimately pursued. On January 27, 2012, the Bankruptcy Court issued a Final Order Establishing Notification Procedures for Substantial Claimholders and Equityholders and Approving Restrictions on Certain Transfers of Interests in the Debtors' Estates (Docket No. 890], which restricts trading in the Company's common stock and claims.