Pension Agency Says AMR Will Seek to End Worker Pensions

(REUTERS) -- The U.S. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp, which has responsibility for insuring certain benefits under private defined benefit pension plans, said on Tuesday it believes American Airlines will seek to terminate employee pensions in bankruptcy.

The agency said it filed a $92 million lien against American parent AMR Corp for the balance of unpaid pension plan contributions. It added the lien was applied to AMR assets outside the U.S., mainly in Latin America.

American filed for Chapter 11 protection in late November citing uncompetitive labor costs. The carrier has yet to issue a labor cost-savings target.

(Reporting by John Crawley in Washington; addition reporting by Karen Jacobs; Editing by Maureen Bavdek)