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UAL to lay off about one-third of their pilots, a move that likely won't be the only one in airline industry.
And unless things pick up soon (highly unlikely) more from cabin crews on down will be given the push.
"United Airlines UAL this weekend began the process by which it could eliminate the jobs of more than a third of its 12,250 pilots as soon as Oct. 1.
And the airline’s chief pilot warned that unless travel demand rebounds this summer much stronger than they anticipate, a lot more pilots could be pushed into the unemployment lines, along with corresponding numbers of mechanics, flight attendants, ground workers, administrative staff and managers."
Yep. The spreading tentacles of Corona Virus. The airlines and every other major and minor business operation facing unprecedented losses. Toyota for instance had an astonishing 80% decline in profits. This mess isn’t going to wrap up in a nice little package, go away, and the global economy will running at full steam. People are unemployed, scared and aren’t going to put themselves in crowded airline seats or in groups of people irregardless of what the politicians say.
Last Friday (8 May) I was on a Zoom meeting with a bunch of old college buddies, one of whom is an American FO. Former US Airways/USAir. His numbers, all based on pay cuts, furloughs, or elimination of jobs after 30 Sep, are what's he's heard and are by no means official, and are only for US carriers:
AAL: 4500-5500 pilots
UAL: 4000 pilots
DL: 5000, maybe even 6000 pilots
SWA: Unknown
Alaska: Unknown
JB: Unknown
LCCs: All of them, as they fail.
His last flight was March 17th, as he ferried an A321 to PHL for storage. He's sitting at around 40% in seniority, despite being in the business for 25 years. Acquisitions and mergers messed with his numbers. This will be his third furlough, if it happens. (2002, 2008)
Last Friday (8 May) I was on a Zoom meeting with a bunch of old college buddies, one of whom is an American FO. Former US Airways/USAir. His numbers, all based on pay cuts, furloughs, or elimination of jobs after 30 Sep, are what's he's heard and are by no means official, and are only for US carriers:
AAL: 4500-5500 pilots
UAL: 4000 pilots
DL: 5000, maybe even 6000 pilots
SWA: Unknown
Alaska: Unknown
JB: Unknown
LCCs: All of them, as they fail.
His last flight was March 17th, as he ferried an A321 to PHL for storage. He's sitting at around 40% in seniority, despite being in the business for 25 years. Acquisitions and mergers messed with his numbers. This will be his third furlough, if it happens. (2002, 2008)
Huh. I've read several articles saying the LCC's will come out of this the best.
I know a pilot at one of the regional airlines who was supposed to be upgraded to captain this month. The ground school is still being done by zoom but there will be no flight simulator or IOE Captain training after that as on June 1st, he and bunch of others will be back officially to being first officers. Also come October 1st depending on seniority, etc. probably quite a few pilots will be furloughed but not quite clear who yet due to bases (one closed recently and others will probably have fewer flights when they reopen) reshuffling.
Yep. The spreading tentacles of Corona Virus. The airlines and every other major and minor business operation facing unprecedented losses. Toyota for instance had an astonishing 80% decline in profits. This mess isn’t going to wrap up in a nice little package, go away, and the global economy will running at full steam. People are unemployed, scared and aren’t going to put themselves in crowded airline seats or in groups of people irregardless of what the politicians say.
airlines are directly related to hotels/car rentals also.....
In normal times, this cost saving measure would be combined with consolidating flights to pack the remaining planes. But this will not be possible for the immediate future due to the nature of this virus and United’s promises to maintain social distancing by keeping the middle seats open.
So assuming passenger demand will return to some base level, their obvious option would be to raise ticket prices - during the economic uncertainties of a possibly prolonged recession/depression. How is that going to work? How high will the prices need to be in order to maintain operational levels needed to ride out the pandemic? For leisure travelers this will be key, less so for business travelers, but even they will see belt-tightening budgets for travel.
Huh. I've read several articles saying the LCC's will come out of this the best.
I had to wait for this response from an AA FO:
"I read Spirit is asking the government for every exemption NOT to fly to cities they previously served pre- Covid. They are bleeding like the rest of us. The low fare (smaller) companies are being treated like the "redheaded stepchild " as far as the CARES act is concerned. AA is heavily in debt and Boeing is expecting their (AA's) demise. We shall see!"
CARES requires airlines to continue service to cities they previously served; service can be reduced, but the destinations must be served unless exempted. Another thread regarding Delta also references Spirit and JetBlue reducing service, it's approved but indicative of the troubles faced.
No one has a working crystal ball right now. My BIL who works for the FAA says Spirit will likely declare bankruptcy 1 Oct, but again that's just conjecture, no one really knows right now.
Kind of amusing that an AA pilot is throwing shade at Spirit. The LCC's are going to probably fare the best out of all the airlines, due to them being so cheap. If I had to guess, the airline most likely to fail will be AA. At the very least they are going to declare chapter 11. I sold all my stock in them at a loss, but at least it the shares still had a value greater than $0.
Location: Was Midvalley Oregon; Now Eastside Seattle area
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Personally, I'd not want to fly cheap or in a crowded, +80% filled plane, train. If the airline makes $20 on me, I'd gladly give them an extra $20, to get an empty seat next to me. I'd even pay to have 2 seats empty.
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