Blaming “the deterioration in travel demand compared to late June,” United plans to furlough up to 2,850 pilots this year unless federal payroll support is extended.
United Airlines Plans To Furlough Up To 2,850 Pilots In 2020
In a memo to pilots, Bryan Quigley, United’s Senior Vice President of Flight Operations, noted:
“With travel demand dramatically reduced, our airline will need to become much smaller effective October 1, 2020, when the support we received from the Payroll Support Program runs out. While the company, ALPA and our other labor unions completely support and remain hopeful that Congress will make head-way on an extension of the Payroll Support Program, we need to prepare and plan for the future should an extension not be granted.”
To that end, 603 additional pilots were notified yesterday that their position may be impacted on or after October 30, 2020 (there is a statutory 90-day notice period). That brings the total number of pilots who may be furloughed to 2,850.
Furlough notices will sent via snail mail “over the coming few days” with effective dates stretching between October 1st and November 30th.
Quigley added:
“It’s important to note that our numbers are based on the current travel demand for the remainder of the year and our anticipated flying schedule, which continues to be fluid with the resurgence of COVID-19 in regions across the U.S.”
Translation: we may not need to furlough pilots or we may need to furlough more. Let’s see what happens.
CONCLUSION
It’s a tough season for the airline industry and tough time to be a pilot. Hopefully these furloughs will be short and air travel will rebound. In the meantime, my best to the many pilots at United and beyond who may soon be out of a job.
Then again, this could simply be another scare tactic to push Congress and the White House toward a more generous payroll support package.
> Read More: United Airlines Reaches Tentative Furlough Agreement With Pilots
image: United
I guess this story is about a month old, given the 90 day notice requirement. Please no more taxpayer payment for people to do work that isn’t needed. Many can possibly be redeployed for cargo lines, and some may just choose to retire, but guaranteed employment by the state didn’t work when the USSR tried it, and it won’t work now.
Well, I bet u there will be an extenor even EO for airline industry. Cuz airline means just a little more than job and unemployment.
Based upon 35 years in the business, I predict every Major Airline will file CH-11 in 2021. I also predict a return to CAB type government control of fares and routes. No Airline can hemorage cash at current rates. This may be the only way to preserve our Air Transportation System until we are done with the reset coming. This is a true Black Swann event. Not unlike the aftermath in the industry after 911.
As United Airlines had a large share of international traffic, it is not surprising that coronavirus hit UA hard.
I do believe that UA can selectively restore some international routes capacity which the direct competitor is weak. One example could be EWR/ORD/SFO – Hong Kong. I see UA has two advantages in US-HK market. (1) CX is financially weaker because she has no domestic air traffic to fall back on. (2) CX has no Boeing 787-8 or 787-9. Since travellers are limited, UA can serve the same trans-pacific route with 787 which offer cheaper operating cost, and attain higher passenger load factor than CX’s 777-300ER or Airbus A350 can. If UA play the cards smartly, UA can force CX and some international competitors to abandon some markets.
What a hokey picture.