Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney continues to defend his past role at investment firm Bain Capital as a job creator rather than a job terminator despite his opponents’ allegations to the contrary.

So perhaps it’s a case of unfortunate timing that Bain’s consulting arm—where Romney also once worked—is advising a company that is looking to trim its labor costs as it reorganizes in bankruptcy.

AMR Corp.’s American Eagle regional airline subsidiary has hired Bain & Co. as its strategic consultant to assist it in “labor-cost assessment and negotiations,” court papers show. AMR, better known as the parent of American Airlines, turned to Chapter 11 last November with the goal of slashing labor costs that are significantly higher than its competitors. As the parent company, AMR employs about 88,000 people around the globe.

“American has stated in their papers that there will be layoffs,” Ray Neidl, Maxim Group’s senior aerospace and airlines analyst, told Bankruptcy Beat Tuesday. “Most of the shrinkage will be at the regional sector and low-margin leisure routes.”