Layoffs loom for US airline industry

Period when US carriers promised to refrain from layoffs comes to end

NEW YORK:

Workers from the beleaguered US airline industry were making a last-ditch public appeal this week to coax more money from Capitol Hill power brokers to save their jobs.

The first day of October concludes the period when US carriers that received billions in aid from Congress promised to refrain from laying off workers. American and United Airlines were the first to announce cuts, saying they would begin furloughing 19,000 and 13,000 workers respectively as US officials have failed to reach a deal on fresh aid to the pandemic-hit air travel sector.

A package of loans totalling up to $25 billion to seven US carriers announced on Tuesday night by the Treasury Department provides funds for airlines to ride out a prolonged downturn amid the coronavirus, but won’t affect plans for furloughs, airline sources said. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on CNBC he was hopeful airlines would postpone layoffs if congressional leaders can reach a framework for a deal. While the stalemate in Washington over stimulus has pinched unemployed workers and put public sector employees on notice, vulnerable airline workers have in some ways been the poster children for the impasse.

“Tomorrow, tens of thousands of essential aviation workers will wake up without a job or healthcare and tens of thousands more will be without a pay cheque,” Sara Nelson, President of the AFA-CWA flight attendant union, said in a statement. Since the coronavirus intensified in March, US airlines have been grounding planes and delaying jet deliveries to limit their cash burn as air travel remains at about only one-third of its level a year ago.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 2^nd, 2020.

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