More than 80,000 pilots, airlines and other employees of the airline face unpaid time and an uncertain future as carriers attempt to navigate catastrophic losses resulting from COVID-19.
Beyond holidaymakers’ teachings of travel during a pandemic, major U.S. carriers have lost lucrative business travelers as the coronavirus continues its deadly spread, with a day of reckoning for tens of thousands of aviation industry workers in the fall.
As Delta Air Lines’ CEO Ed Bastian explained after the Atlanta-based carrier reported a record quarterly loss of $ 2.8 billion last month: “I do not think we will ever get back to where we were in volume in 2019. of business traffic. ”
About 17,000 employees, or 20% of Delta’s workforce, left the company last week, either through purchase packages or by taking early retirement, according to the company.
The cuts are “a difficult but necessary step towards the transformation of Delta into a smaller, more sober airline that will be better positioned to sustain the crisis and recover quickly,” Bastian wrote in a memo to staff. “We will be guided in the second half of the year by our goal of eliminating our daily cash burn while improving customer satisfaction and building loyalty that will serve us as demand recovers.”
Other carriers, who also burn millions in cash daily, have informed employees that furloughs are likely, with October 1 being difficult as a very dark day for the sector. This is in large part because airlines that keep workers on their pay through September 30 would not have to repay funds they received under the CARES Act, which covers nearly $ 50 billion in support to U.S. airlines.
About 25,000 frontline workers at American Airlines could be laid off on October 1st. However, the Fort Worth, Texas-based carrier has recently reached a deal with its 14,000-member pilot union to provide more sheets and packages for early retirement to curb the upcoming carnage. It is also extending until August 12 a deadline for other workers to decide if they want to take voluntary leave with reduced pay or early retirement.
United Airlines warned last month that nearly half of its frontline workforce could be furloughed this fall. The airline’s number of 36,000 workers includes 15,000 flight attendants, 11,000 reps and customer service and port agents, 5,550 employees and 2,250 pilots.
Such notifications are required under the Federal Employee Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, or WARN Act, and are not unexpected, especially in the current economic climate.
Alaska Airlines told CBS News that it is sending news of possible furloughs to 4,200 employees in the frontline, but expects the final count to be lower. About a third of Alaska Airlines’ 3,100 pilots have opted to retire early as early as possible, allowing the carrier to preempt pilot facilities. Overall, Alaska Airlines has plans to shrink its workforce by 35%, but market conditions could change the equation.
“We make tough decisions to make law-abiding Alaska Airlines for future success, but it means we are losing fantastic people. We have to survive some people, and those decisions are very difficult,” an Alaska Airlines spokesman said.
“We are in the midst of the largest contract in our industry’s history,” Alaska Airlines President Ben Minicucci said on the airline’s second quarter call.
Other carriers considering cuts include:
- Frontier Airlines, which announced 35% of its airlines and pilots that they could be deployed as soon as October, sent 925 flight attendants and 559 pilots at the end of July.
- Allegiant Airlines, which plans to cut 220 non-union positions after September 30, expects 275 pilots, or nearly 30%, to be warned that they could be released for unpaid time.
- ExpressJet, which is seen as likely to reduce its operations after losing its flight contract with United as of next year. The carrier employs 3,000 people.
- Hawaiian Airlines, which warns 2,135 of its employees that they could be furlough, including 226 of its roughly 850 pilots.
- PSA Airlines, a subsidiary of American Airlines. PSA may lay off 730 pilots and 500 flight attendants.
- Piedmont Airlines, which has 120 pilots in the report indicated that they stand for birds.
- Republic Airlines, where about 1,800 pilots and airlines see furloughs.
- GoJet, where a spokesman for the regional carrier confirmed to CBS News that warnings had been sent to all of its 1,185 employees. “The exact percentage of employees that will ultimately be affected is based on schedule demand and is currently unknown. However, we expect our schedule to be continuously reduced,” the GoJet spokesman said.
While unions are lobbying for an extension of the Payroll Support Program enacted in the CARES Act, which was adopted in late March, it is not clear whether Congress will include Airlines in the financial support package now under consideration.
“Airline companies and other airlines burned conference phone lines in the past week to get support for a clean extension of the Payroll Support Program,” Sara Nelson, president of the Flight Attendants Association, said in an email.
“This facility is COVID’s most successful runway program and maintains service to all of our communities,” added Nelson, whose union represents nearly 50,000 flight attendants at 19 Airlines.
CBS News correspondent Kris Van Cleave contributed to this report.
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