American Airline Inc. announced on Monday that it is joining Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a nonprofit organization, in its efforts to collect $8 million for a eight-year study into inflammatory breast cancer, an aggressive type of breast cancer typically diagnosed in younger women.

In honor of the company’s partnership with the Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Fort Worth-based AMR Corp., the parent company of American Airlines has dressed two of its planes – a Boeing 757 and an American Eagle Embraer 145 in pink. Six other planes will join this campaign as well.

 “This is a great day for American Airlines, American Eagle and Susan G. Komen for the Cure. But most of all, it’s a great day for all of us who are deeply determined to end breast cancer forever. We sincerely thank the American and American Eagle employees at our Tulsa and Abilene maintenance bases who donated their time to carefully wrap these aircraft in ribbons,” said Dan Garton, executive vice president-marketing at American.

Hala Moddelmog, Komen’s CEO and president said that inflammatory breast cancer is one of the forms of cancer about which little is known.

“IBC is very aggressive, it’s very difficult to diagnose, and it is very deadly. This event is, in a sense, a culmination of our partnership with American,” she said.

The study will be done by researchers at the University of Texas’ MD Anderson Cancer Center who will use genomics, proteomics and nanotechnology to study IBC.

Under the terms of the agreement, American Airlines has pledged to raise a minimum of $1 million annually for eight years, to fund Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s first Promise Grant – 1 $7.5 million, five-year study of IBC. The remainder will be used to fund health and community programs.

The money will come mainly from the annual American Airlines Celebrity Golf and Tennis Weekend. But, there will be additional contributions as well that will be raised via American’s Miles for the Cure program, in which AAdvantage members earn five miles for each dollar contributed to Komen with a $25 minimum donation.

“This partnership speaks volumes about the quality and longevity of American’s commitment to Komen, and the way the company and its employees share out sense of urgency in discovering and delivering the cures, and finding ways to prevent breast cancer,” Moddelmog said and at the same time thanking American for being the first corporation “to have a direct hand in writing a significant chapter in breast cancer research history with its Promise Grant.”

Every year, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation sustains breast cancer survivors and tries to save lives and energize science to find a cure. The foundation was founded by Nancy Brinker in 1982, as a tribute for her 36-year-old sister, killed by the disease. Today, there are more than 2.5 million breast cancer survivors in the United States.

Breast cancer represents the second leading cause of cancer death for women after lung cancer. The agency presented some rather troubling statistics about this year’s health expectations: apparently, more than 180,000 women in the US will be diagnosed with cancer this year and close to 40,000 will die from it.