Airline 'Onshores' 400 positions In Winston-Salem, NC, Phoenix
And Reno, NV Call Centers
US Airways announced Monday it has returned work previously
handled outside of the United States to its call centers in
Winston-Salem, NC, Phoenix, and Reno, NV. The airline’s
onshore project is part of its agreement with the Airline Customer
Service Employee Association – CWA and IBT, which represents
more than 6,000 reservations and airport customer service employees
employed by US Airways. The new positions meet a contractual
requirement to handle all general reservations sales calls
originating in the United States in U.S. call centers by Nov. 1,
2011.
"Today’s news is a testament to the positive relationship
we have with the Airline Customer Service Employee Association,"
said Chairman and CEO Doug Parker (pictured). "The addition of 400
jobs is extremely good news for these three communities, for the
CWA/IBT, and for our customers who will continue to receive the
outstanding service they have come to associate with US
Airways.”
“The CWA/IBT Association Union is excited to work with US
Airways to bring jobs back into the Reservations work group,”
said Velvet Hawthorne, IBT/CWA Association Chairperson and CWA
Staff Representative. “Nothing speaks louder than solidarity,
when we all work together for a successful airline. We welcome our
new Brothers and Sisters, helping us to provide excellent customer
service to our passengers.”
To support bringing jobs back onshore, in July US Airways
launched the domestic airline industry’s first Natural
Language Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system. The new automated
system delivers an extremely fast yet personalized travel
experience by offering the airline's customers a wide range of
self-service capabilities, such as flight information, upgrade
status and Dividend Miles account details.
Senior Vice President, Operations Planning and Support, Kerry
Hester said, “The IVR not only complements the broad range of
self-service options available to customers on usairways.com and in
the airports; it is also closely integrated with US Airways'
reservations centers so our agents have information about a
customer, such as their name and existing reservation, as they are
connected with callers. This makes the interaction easier and more
efficient for customers.”
In addition to its three reservations call centers in the United
States, US Airways also operates a call center in Liverpool,
England, which handles calls from customers located in
international locations. US Airways will employ 1,900 agents by the
end of 2011, and the airline handles approximately 18 million calls
annually.
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