United Airlines avoids further redundancies

United Airlines has announced that it will not have to furlough an additional 250 of its flight attendants.

According to Alex Marren, United’s senior vice president for onboard service, the furloughs have been avoided as more attendants are needed on international flights, and more special leaves are to be offered by the airline. Marren added that the airline worked in conjunction with the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA to avoid having to furlough the 250 staff.

In 2008, 1,550 of United’s flight attendants took voluntary furloughs. United is just one of many carriers that have been reducing workforce as demand for air travel has declined in the worsening economy.

The third-largest carrier in the U.S. also announced on Friday that more than 200 customer service and ramp workers at Chicago’s O’Hare airport would also not face involuntary furloughs. The reason the involuntary furloughs could be avoided is that a sufficient number of employees took voluntary furloughs and an additional 43 customer service workers at O’Hare are moving to part-time status, according to Megan McCarthy, a United spokeswoman.

Feeder airline, Atlantic Southeast Airlines, a unit of SkyWest, announced that it would need to furlough 80 of its 1,750 pilots next month.

www.united.com