‘The hardest message’: American Airlines to lay off 17,500 front-line workers due to coronavirus travel slump
American Airlines warned in July that it would have to lay off up to 25,000 flight attendants, pilots and other front-line workers this fall due to the steep decline in travel brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
The final number came in lower thanks to voluntary employee exits and long-term leaves but the figure is still staggering: 17,500 workers. That is in addition to 1,500 management and administrative workers already laid off.
American CEO Doug Parker and President Robert Isom delivered the news to employees on Tuesday, calling it the most sobering update they’ve had to make since the pandemic began.
“Today is the hardest message we have had to share so far – the announcement of involuntary staffing reductions effective Oct. 1,” the executives said in a memo.
The only thing that will stop the layoffs, the company said, is an extension of the payroll protection program the government approved earlier this year to support key industries until travel demand returned. Travel demand hasn’t returned in sufficient numbers, however, and airline unions are fighting to extend the payroll protection, and thus any layoffs, through March 31.
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