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.

FMI: www.usairways.com