UNITED AIRLINES TO LAY OFF 16,300 WORKERS

United Airlines Holdings expects to remove 16,370 jobs next October due to the international drop in travel demand over the COVID-19 crisis, which has caused the airline to cut a number of routes.

The suspensions were announced last week and will take effect on October 1, when the US federal aid for airlines through the Payroll Support Program (PSP) to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic will expire, as scheduled.

To date, more than 7,400 United Airlines workers have chosen to leave the company voluntarily, while another 20,000 have been furloughed.

Last month, United Airlines notified 36,000 of its nearly 92,000 employees that their jobs would be at risk once the government aid program expires.

Along the same lines, American Airlines released a statement last week warning it would cut 19,000 jobs at the end of the US federal aid on October 1.

The most recent planned cuts will reduce total American Airlines personnel to less than 100,000 compared to the 140,000 workers it had in March. In the case of American Airlines, about 12,500 workers have voluntarily left and 11,000 will be laid off as of October 1, which will be added to the 19,000 job cuts previously announced by the company.