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...

FMI: www.united.com