United Airlines will be out 688 flight attendants in the near future WGNTV reported.
The layoffs stem from issues with labor agreements dating back to Continental's and United Airlines merger, and the two airline's individuality WGNTV reported. The new deal also requires less flight attendants WGNTV reported.
"We have offered opportunities to flight attendants for both voluntary furloughs and job-sharing programs in order to mitigate involuntary furloughs, but these programs did not generate enough volunteers and we are faced with the difficult step of furloughing 688 flight attendants," A United Airlines spokesman told WGNTV. "We are disappointed that on three occasions the subsidiary United AFA rejected a voluntary cross-over program that would have provided flying opportunities to hundreds of flight attendants that may otherwise be involuntarily furloughed," the United Airlines spokesman told WGNTV.
The layoffs affect veteran United Airlines employees come April 1 Bloomberg reported. The airline is also bringing in new stewardesses to staff planes on aircrafts from the old Continental Airlines Bloomberg reported.
United Airlines will slash yearly expenses $2 billion, and take bigger planes from its Asia flights to increase revenue Bloomberg Businessweek reported.
"The $2 billion savings target is not a foregone, easy solution," Savanthi Syth, an analyst at Raymond James Financial Inc. in St. Petersburg, Florida told Bloomberg. "Having those two groups separate does complicate things."
The airline who merged with Continental Airlines in 2010 is also re-locating many of bigger airplaces from its base in Tokyo, Japan Bloomberg Businessweek reported. It is also removing its flight from Seattle to Tokyo so Delta can construct an Asian hub from the Seattle-Tacoma airport Bloomberg Businessweek reported.
United is also decreasing its 50-seat regional jet fleet for bigger planes with 76 seats Bloomberg Businessweek reported.
United Airlines and the Association of Flight Attendants discuss their contract each month for a week Bloomberg reported.
