United Airlines to Recall Workers
UAL Corp.’s United Airlines, which laid off about 20,000 workers after the Sept. 11 attacks, will recall as many as 2,200 employees in five major cities because of an increased June flight schedule.
The world’s second-biggest carrier will recruit as many as 900 new workers if laid-off employees choose not to relocate for the jobs, said spokesman Chris Brathwaite.The baggage handler, customer service and cleaning jobs are in Chicago, Washington, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Denver.
Separately, UAL said it was shutting down its Avolar business jet unit, saying the venture wasn’t financially viable amid the U.S. economic slowdown and fallout from the terrorist attacks. Closing the venture will let UAL focus on United’s service, the company said. UAL had provided $80 million to Avolar.
United and some rivals have begun adding back flights in advance of the summer travel season and to meet the gradual increase in passenger traffic since the attacks doused demand.
The carrier said its seat and flight capacity would be about 17% below the year-earlier level even after the June schedule increase. United is restoring 77 flights in Chicago by June 7 but didn’t say how many flights it would add in the other U.S. cities or to the whole network. Earlier this month, United rehired about 660 flight attendants.
The Chicago-based carrier has focused on restoring service in major cities to increase the frequency of flights mainly to better serve business travelers.
Passenger traffic, or miles flown by paying passengers, has been rising a few percentage points each month since the Sept. 11 attacks mainly because of increased leisure travel. Most major U.S. carriers, including United, have said average fares remain low because of less business from high-fare corporate travelers.
On another front, two leading online travel agencies began countering United’s decision to eliminate per-ticket sales commissions this week.
Travelocity.com Inc. added a $10 fee to all United fares late Thursday, and Expedia Inc. altered the carrier’s displays on its Web site, leaving off prices and putting its routes at the bottom of the page.
Other major airlines also phased out the commissions but were not similarly affected because they agreed to compensate Travelocity and Expedia in other ways. For example, a carrier might pay a bonus if the online agency can meet a certain sales target or boost the airline’s overall market share on that site.
UAL’s shares rose 56 cents to $15.70 on the New York Stock Exchange.
