UAL to eliminate 1,000 jobs
 

United Airlines Eliminating 1,000 Jobs
Wednesday June 14, 1:21 pm ET
By Dave Carpenter, AP Business Writer
United Airlines Eliminating 1,000 Salaried and Management Jobs

CHICAGO (AP) -- United Airlines will eliminate at least 1,000 salaried and management jobs by the end of the year as part of its efforts to reduce costs, CEO Glenn Tilton said Wednesday.

The employees to be laid off from the nation's second-largest airline represent about 11 percent of its 9,400 salaried workers and nearly 2 percent of the company's work force of approximately 57,000.

United, a unit of UAL Corp., acknowledged last month that its costs were too high, even after the completion early this year of its three-year bankruptcy restructuring. It set a target of $400 million in additional cost reductions but had not cited the number of salaried and management jobs it plans to cut.

Tilton told analysts in New York that the job cuts are part of a $100 million reduction of general and administrative overhead expenses. In addition, he said, the Elk Grove Village, Ill.-based company is reducing purchase services by $200 million and cutting advertising and marketing costs by $60 million, among other moves.

"We're going to reduce our costs further, we're going to take full advantage of the network that we have preserved to optimize our revenue, and we are going to deliver to our customers a consistently superior and consistently improving customer experience," Tilton said at the Merrill Lynch Global Transportation Conference.

Soaring oil costs have continued to hurt the bottom line for United and other carriers, and Tilton said the airline is refining its route schedule accordingly, although he did not specify flights to be dropped.

"Said simply, some long-haul routes that worked at $50 a barrel don't fly at $65 a barrel," he said. "We'll continue to redeploy assets to other opportunities, such as the recently announced Washington-Kuwait route, which we'll initiate in the fall."

Tilton also said United's second-quarter cost numbers are somewhat better than the guidance it gave during a May 8 conference call. Costs per available seat mile, excluding fuel and special charges, are 7.52 cents, which he called competitive. Cash flow is "very strong" and revenue performance is competitive, he said, without giving specifics.

United shares, which had lost a third of their value since they began trading in February, rose 62 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $27.65 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060614/unite...cuts.html?.v=2

It's amazing to me that an airline can have more managers than pilots. Delta's no different.

Same airline... different paint job.

Okay, once again. . .

I have a serious issue with companys firing / laying off people to reduce costs. Labor costs are not the issue.

Flying people for dirty cheap is the issue. Raise the prices, and make people pay the correct wage to fly. Rediculous.

all this after there expecting a pilot shortage during the busy summer months? idiots

That is a ridiculous statement. I don't know how old you are, but I can remember when I was a kid in the seventies and flying was a big fu$%ing deal. People dressed up nice and planned trips months in advance. It was the tail end of a great era. That era, however, meant that flying was a luxury and one that didn't happen often. Because people didn't fly as often, there wasn't a demand for as many pilots.
Now that you can get a plane ticket for cheaper than a bus pass, more people fly. More people flying means more pilot positions. Without cheap tickets, not as many people fly......catch my drift?

I dig your link in your signature. Well said. Perhaps this young generation of pilots can honestly get together and either make ALPA stronger, or create a new union with a much more intelligent process for getting the dignity of this job back? NATCA is facing the same problems. We are being forced to just flop over and take it in the rear by way of the FAA.

I'm 21, 22 next month, and I too remember dressing up nice as a child to go on an "airplane trip." I get disgusted walking through airports these days. Cut-off t-shirts, dirty jean shorts. . . christ people, put on some real cloths for once in a while. You're not in your trailor.

You never said why you think my post was ridiculous, but that's fine.

You stated the simple fact that plane tickets are cheaper than bus passes. Here lies the problem. This is an airplane, not a damn greyhound bus. Agree?

Yes, cheaper tickets, more planes, more pilots, working at a MUCH lower wage than what they should be making. Agreed?

No FO should be making less than the poverty level, I don't give a rats ass if it's because they are a first year FO or not. Unfortunately that is the environment we find ourselves in. I'm not asking to make 150k a year, but it would be nice to be able to support a family (my wife) when you move from CFIing to FO on a RJ, 40k a year for the first year is reasonable to me, so much more than 20k at some regionals.

yours is a ridiculous statement.

yea more pilot positions with payscales like yours. could you even support a family with your pay.

if oil continues to rise will you take a pay cut so that the customer doesn't have to pay more.

more people are flying now then before 9-11, but I'm sure your happy with $35 hour payscales.

Exactly.

If the customer can not afford the fare, then that is their problem, not the employees. People are going to fly no matter what we charge them, there is no sense in reducing the fare to the point where it is cheaper than taking a greyhound bus across country. That is ridiculous.

If you raise the ticket prices, less people will fly. PERIOD.