Fort Worth-based American Airlines on Wednesday announced plans to cut jobs, reduce employee costs, outsource maintenance work and alter pension plans.

American Airlines outlined a business plan to improve profitability to $3 billion by 2017, as an effort to emerge from bankruptcy protection. Late last year, parent company AMR Corp. filed for bankruptcy protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York.

Chairman and CEO Tom Horton said in a news release the move will allow American Airlines to succeed in a competitive environment.

"We must invest restructuring-related cost savings in ongoing innovation and customer service improvements that drive revenue," Horton said. "The airlines that have failed to adapt to these changes are no longer in business. Change will be difficult, particularly as we will be ending this process with fewer people, but it is a necessity."

American Airlines plans to cut roughly 13,000 employee positions, such as management, pilots and maintenance staff. American also plans to reduce 20 percent of its employee-related costs across all work groups, including management. Among those hit will be employees working in the company's maintenance base at Fort Worth Alliance Airport, which will close when American outsources a portion of its maintenance work.

"The base itself is proposed to be closed and that's approximately 1,200 employees by the closing of the Alliance base," said AMR spokesman Tim Smith.

Employees who survive the cuts, though, will see changes as well. American is seeking approval from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York to end its employees' defined benefit pensions. Instead, American wants to contribute matching payments in 401k-style pensions.

And the company is seeking approval to stop subsidizing future retirement medical coverage for existing employees.

"These are painful decisions, but they are essential to American's future," Horton said. "We will emerge from our restructuring process as a leaner organization with fewer people, but we will also preserve tens of thousands of jobs that would have been lost if we had not embarked on this path—and that's a goal worth fighting for."