UPDATE 1: 11:25 a.m. ET 8/25/2020: In an
8-K filed today, American Airlines said that it intends to furlough approximately 17,500 U.S.-based employees effective Oct. 1. These notices are related to but not in addition to notices sent on
July 15.
The company said in a letter to employees included in the 8-K that based on current demand levels, it plans to fly less than 50% of its airline in the fourth quarter, with long-haul international particularly reduced to only 25% of 2019 levels. On the company’s second-quarter
earnings call, management said that it had expected capacity to be down 60% in the third quarter from the prior year. The workforce reductions announced today relate to the reductions in service, including the complete elimination of service to certain markets in early October.
The company said that it will have at least 40,000 fewer people working Oct. 1 than it had entering the pandemic, with more than 12,500 deciding to leave via early out or early retirement programs and another 11,000 offering to be on a leave of absence in October. The company said that about 19,000 employees will be “involuntarily furloughed or separated” from the company on Oct. 1 unless there is an extension of the Payroll Support Program.
Original Story 5:30 p.m. UTC on July 15, 2020
American Airlines Issues WARN Notices to Approximately 25,000 Employees
Relevant Document:
8-K
In an 8-K filed this afternoon, American Airlines announced that it has informed approximately 25,000 U.S.-based employees of American and its affiliates, either directly or through a union representative, of the possibility of a workforce reduction at their work location. American expects that these actions, if any, will take effect on or after Oct. 1 and may continue through the end of 2020.
Management said in a letter to employees today that the company currently anticipates having over 20,000 more team members on payroll than needed to operate its smaller schedule this fall, adding that for its Airports and Tech Ops teams, it is also accounting for displacements that could occur as team members shift to other locations, so those potentially impacted individuals are also included in the WARN process. Using those guidelines, the company is issuing WARN notices to approximately 25,000 team members. A summary of WARN notices by workgroup is shown below:
Management adds in the letter that it hopes to reduce the actual number of furloughs significantly through enhanced leave and early-out programs for represented workgroups, which it is announcing today. The letter further states, "These programs were created with input from our union partners and are open to frontline represented team members, excluding pilots. Pilots are in a different situation given their mandatory retirement age and required training cycles as they move across aircraft, so they have separate leave and early-out programs tailored to their circumstances."