Carrier Aims To Slash Flying Ranks 15 Percent
It's not especially surprising
news... but it's still a harsh blow to some 950 soon-to-be-former
pilots with United Airlines. Hot on the heels of the troubled
carrier's June 4 announcement it plans to park its entire fleet of
Boeing 737s and some older 747s, on Monday Chicago-based United
said it plans to lay off the pilots tasked with flying those
aircraft.
"As we reduce the size of our fleet and take actions companywide
to enable United to compete in an environment of record fuel
prices, we must take the difficult but necessary step to reduce the
number of people we have to run our business," the carrier said in
a prepared statement, according to Reuters.
United plans to distribute some 1,450 furlough notices over the
coming months, with the goal of 950 layoffs by the end of 2009. The
disparity is due to the number of UAL pilots already on military or
personal leave.
As ANN reported, United said earlier this
month it would slash as many as 1,100 salaried jobs in the coming
months, as the airline continues to falter under the burden of high
fuel prices. The airline also euthanized "Ted," United's
half-hearted attempt to capture a share of the low-cost market.
The layoffs comprise close to 15 percent of United's 6,518
pilots. A spokesman with the Air Line Pilots Association wasn't
immediately available to comment to Reuters, though one imagines
it's just a matter of time before ALPA has some words for United,
and its beleaguered management.
The furloughs serve as warning to the airline's other labor
groups, as well. "We continue discussions with ALPA and all of our
unions on ways to mitigate involuntary furloughs, and we are
working to notify all of our employee groups about furloughs as
soon as we know the impact of our capacity reductions," the carrier
said.
Good news has been hard to come by
for the nation's number two airline of late. Earlier this year, the
carrier announced it lost $537 million in the first quarter... and
the outlook for the second doesn't look much better. The airline
was also involved in two abortive merger attempts, with Continental
Airlines and US Airways. United rejected the latter, but
Continental gave an emphatic "no" to United before that.
In something of a consolation prize, however,
last week United and Houston-based Continental announced
plans to form a strong alliance... offering many of
the benefits of a true merger, but avoiding messy integration
issues. That's of particular importance to Continental, as United
suffers some of the worst labor relations in the airline
business.
As a sign of their displeasure with their airline's current
management team -- and reviled CEO Glenn Tilton, in particular --
United pilots have taken to
removing their uniform hats when in the presence of
management. Sometimes, they've even thrown the caps to
the ground in disgust.
One imagines that close to 1,000 United pilots would now like to
throw something else at the feet of United management...