American Airlines plans to lay off up to 160 pilots by the end of March, according to its pilots union, a sign that carriers continue to clamp down on costs.
United Airlines is also jettisoning 140 front-line workers and mechanics even though the industry appears to be recovering after two years of tumult that prompted U.S. carriers to park planes and sharply reduce flying.
American Airlines executives told analysts Wednesday that business travel was starting to rebound and predicted that its capacity would increase slightly in 2010.
Those pilots losing their jobs in the latest round of layoffs at American had just rejoined the Texas-based airline in February 2009 after a six-year absence, according to Dennis Tajer, an American pilot and spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association.
The pilots had previously been furloughed in June 2003, and many had left promising jobs to resume their careers at American, the nation’s second-largest carrier, Tajer added.
The Allied Pilots Association was notified of the pending job cuts Thursday night and was told that management intends to furlough about 130 active pilots, although the total could be up to 160 pilots.
American currently has 1,887 pilots on furlough, about half of whom previously had been employed by Trans World Airlines and lost their jobs after American merged with TWA in 2001.
American’s workforce shrank by 11.3 percent to 66,500 workers between 2005 and November 2009, the most recent month for which employment data is available, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
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