(Reuters) – American Airlines said on Wednesday that some 13,000 employees are at risk of furlough when a US aid package for airline workers expires on April 1, blaming slow vaccine rollouts and new international travel restrictions for dampening demand.
“The vaccine is not being distributed as quickly as any of us believed, and new restrictions on international travel that require customers to have a negative COVID-19 test have dampened demand,” American said, adding that the company will not fly all of its aircraft this summer as planned.
United Airlines has sent fresh furlough warnings to 14,000 employees, while Delta Air Lines Inc and Southwest Airlines Co have averted layoffs mostly thanks to voluntary leave programs.
American and United also offered voluntary deals to reduce staffing last year but were still forced to furlough.
American said it was launching a fresh round of exit packages in an effort to mitigate potential involuntary furloughs, similar to plans by United.
They are required by law to inform employees whose jobs are at risk, generally within 60 days.
American’s potential furloughs include 1,850 pilots and 4,245 flight attendants. United’s pilots approved a deal late last year to prevent furloughs until June.
Last month American’s wholly owned regional subsidiary, PSA Airlines, said it planned to resume pilot hiring this year, as have ultra low-cost carriers including Allegiant and privately owned Frontier Airlines.
The Allied Pilots Association, which represents American’s pilots, said actions by management and their treatment of the airline’s balance sheet “have placed American in a more precarious situation than our competitors.”
American is the most leveraged of the major US carriers. Last week it took advantage of a sharp rise in shares after a mention on Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum to launch a fresh $1 billion stock sale to boost liquidity.
Reporting by Tracy Rucinski in Florida; Editing by Matthew Lewis
