." >> reporter: josh gothbaum heads up the pension benefit guaranty corporation, the federal agency that insures pension plans. if american walks away from its plans, he says retirees will still get a check. >> some of the benefits that they would have gotten from american, we can't pay. and that's unfortunate. and the other thing, which is also true, is that at that point, we will become a very large creditor of american airlines and we will-- so okay, what can we get in exchange for having taken on your obligations. >> reporter: american airlines says it hasn't made a decision on its pension plans. but if it does shift the plans to p.b.g.c., it will likely have to give the p.b.g.c. stock in the company that emerges from bankruptcy. analysts expect amr will be able to show it can't pay creditors and fund its pension plan. >> if you use past airlines as precedent, i imagine amr will be able to remove a good portion of that liability. >> reporter: the p.b.g.c. already has a $26 billion deficit. american airlines could add $9 billion to that shortfall, sending the funding gap soaring to $3