American Airlines May Furlough Staff Again as Travel Recovery Lags
Photo Credit: American warns of renewed furloughs in 2021 amid weak recovery. Wikimedia / BriYYZ
Skift Take
American Airlines' outlook for 2021 is decidedly more cautious than those of its largest competitors. With a moribund recovery and the possibility of new domestic Covid testing rules, the airline may be forced to make further cuts to staff come April.
American Airlines CEO Doug Parker stood steps from the U.S. Capitol just four months ago, calling on Congress to provide billions of dollars in additional aid. The funds would allow airlines to forgo involuntary furloughs — likely for good — in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic and an economic recession.
Fast forward from that September afternoon and Parker is singing a very different tune. With the recovery in air travel slowing, furloughs are on the table for American after the latest round of federal relief expires on March 31. And that’s not all, despite promises that the industry would not need additional aid, unions are in talks with the Biden administration about the possibility of yet another round of payroll support this spring.
“We had hoped that demand would be — would have picked up, maybe not so much by April, but into the summer. That hasn't happened yet,” Parker told investors during American’s fourth quarter earnings call on Thursday. The carrie
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