American Airlines cuts deeper into regional subsidiary Envoy with Miami flight changes

American Airlines is further shrinking regional subsidiary Envoy Air by shifting some of its Miami flights to operators with bigger planes.

Envoy said Friday that after Dec. 18, it will fly 37 daily departures for American in Miami with 12 planes, down from the current 60 departures and 23 planes.

Envoy will cut about 50 jobs and lose its hangar space in Miami, but American will move some maintenance work on large jets there.

After pilots at Envoy rejected a company contract offer earlier this year, American Airlines Group Inc. responded by saying it would shift 47 of Envoy's jets to another of its regional subsidiaries, PSA Airlines. That will leave Envoy with a fleet of aging smaller planes, raising doubts about the carrier's long-term outlook.

Airlines are rapidly replacing planes with 50 and fewer seats, which are expensive to operate, and they often pit regional carriers against each other to hold down labor costs. Leaders of the Envoy pilots' union have said they are being punished for voting down the contract offer. American says the bigger planes will generate more revenue by having a first-class cabin.

Envoy was formerly called American Eagle, but that name now covers all flights operated for American by any regional carrier.