Reuters: American Airlines is telling about 13,000 staff that they are at risk of furlough when the US aid package for airline staff expires on Apr 1, the company said on Feb 3.
Fort Worth, Texas-based American furloughed 19,000 staff when an earlier round of government payroll assist ended on Oct 1 however recalled them in December after a recent US$15 billion for the industry through March.
The corporate had hoped that pandemic-hit demand would rebound by then, however slow rollouts of vaccines and the emergence of COVID-19 variants are delaying the restoration, fueling a push by aviation unions for another US$15 billion in US payroll help.
“We’re almost 5 weeks into 2021, and unfortunately, we find ourselves in a situation similar to a lot of 2020,” Chief Executive Doug Parker and President Robert Isom stated in a memo to staff which was also included in a regulatory filing.
“The vaccine is not being distributed as quickly as any of us believed, and new restrictions on an international travel that require customers to have a negative COVID-19 test have dampened demand,” they stated, including that the company won’t fly all of its aircraft this summer as planned.
United Airlines has sent recent furlough warnings to 14,000 staff, whereas Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines have averted layoffs mostly thanks to voluntary leave packages.
American and United additionally offered voluntary deals to reduce staffing the last yr, however, were still forced to furlough.
American stated it was launching a fresh round of exit packages in an effort to mitigate potential involuntary furloughs, similar to plans by United.
They are required by law to inform employees whose jobs are at risk, generally within 60 days.
American’s potential furloughs include 1,850 pilots and 4,245 flight attendants. United’s pilots approved a deal late last yr to stop furloughs till June.
