FORT WORTH, Texas, Oct. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- American Eagle Airlines announced today that it will expand its maintenance facility at Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport (XNA) in Highfill, Ark. (Benton County), investing $10 million and bringing up to 100 new jobs to the area in the years to come. The expansion is driven in part by the recent addition of new American Eagle service from XNA to Miami, Washington, D.C., and Raleigh/Durham, N.C.

Peter Bowler, President and CEO of American Eagle Airlines, was joined by Arkansas Gov, Mike Beebe and other officials for the announcement.

"American Eagle was the first scheduled airline to serve the Northwest Arkansas Airport nearly nine years ago," Bowler said. "We are proud to offer more departures to more destinations than any other airline, and we are also proud to be growing our maintenance base in Northwest Arkansas. American Airlines and American Eagle believe that the dynamic economy of this great region will drive demand for more travel to more destinations around the world. We intend to be the airline that best meets the needs of customers in Northwest Arkansas."

"This expansion is a testament to Arkansas' growing role in the aviation industry, a role that has led to aviation becoming our single-biggest export," Gov. Beebe said. "It's appropriate that American Airlines, the first airline to service Highfill, is now increasing its operation at XNA."

American Eagle has operated a maintenance facility at XNA since 2004, employing 120 people. The new maintenance facility will be located in a hangar at XNA. This move to a larger hangar, together with the increase in its XNA-based maintenance work force, will enable the airline to maintain more aircraft every night and to take on additional maintenance responsibilities. Interested job applicants should apply online at http://www.americaneaglecareers.com/.

American Airlines and American Eagle began service from Chicago O'Hare and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airports to XNA when it opened in November 1998 and added direct service to New York's La Guardia Airport in 2000. Since then, the airline has added service from XNA to St. Louis, Los Angeles, Miami, Washington, D.C., and Raleigh/Durham. Together, American Eagle, American and AmericanConnection offer a combined 24 daily departures to eight cities from Northwest Arkansas.

About American Eagle

American Eagle operates more than 1,800 daily flights to more than 160 cities throughout the United States, Canada, the Bahamas, Mexico and the Caribbean on behalf of American Airlines. American Airlines is the world's largest airline. American, American Eagle and the AmericanConnection(R) airlines serve 250 cities in over 40 countries with more than 4,000 daily flights. The combined network fleet numbers more than 1,000 aircraft. American's award-winning Web site, AA.com, provides users with easy access to check and book fares, plus personalized news, information and travel offers. American Airlines is a founding member of the oneworld(R) Alliance, which brings together some of the best and biggest names in the airline business, enabling them to offer their customers more services and benefits than any airline can provide on its own. Together, its members serve more than 700 destinations in over 140 countries and territories. American Airlines, Inc. and American Eagle Airlines, Inc. are subsidiaries of AMR Corporation. AmericanAirlines, American Eagle, AmericanConnection, AA.com and AAdvantage are registered trademarks of American Airlines, Inc. .

Current AMR Corp. news releases are available via the Internet. The address is http://www.aa.com/

CONTACT: Andrea Huguely, Corporate Communications of American Eagle
Airlines, +1-817-967-1577, corp.comm@aa.com

Web site: http://www.aa.com/
http://www.americaneaglecareers.com/