One local union group president, says delays and cancellations at American Airlines will only get worse as the holiday season approaches.

American has said recent cancellations and delays are due to sick calls from pilots and more maintenance requests.

Gary Peterson, president of Transport Workers Union Local 565 said he has not heard of a huge spike in maintenance requests and said it is common for an aging fleet to have more write-ups.

"As they continue to get older, what we find is we have more items. It's no different than an older car, you're going to have more things pop up," said Peterson.

Peterson said American's plans call for 100 to 150 local maintenance workers being cut, and the layoff of workers at the Alliance maintenance facility. That maintenance facility is expected to close at the end of the year.

"I can say when you take people out of the equation and you still have the same fleet that's in place, you're going to get what's expected and that is, it's obviously going to be a difficult travel season in the DFW metroplex," said Peterson.

AA Spokesman Bruce Hicks said this about the layoffs:

"The layoffs that will come are at the maintenance bases for the work that is being contracted out so there will not be any change to the frequency, quality or anything. It is simply a shift of where the work is performed."

American also said it doesn't think that there will be an effect on holiday travel.

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