The September 11th attack
United to start Honolulu furloughs soon

By Susan Hooper
Advertiser Staff Writer

United Airlines has notified Hawai'i labor officials that it will begin furloughing employees at its Honolulu International Airport location on or about Oct. 19 because of the effects of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on its business.

United does not yet have precise information about the number of employees to be furloughed, the airline said in a letter received yesterday by the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. The furloughs are expected to take place over a two-week period; United said it could not predict whether they will be temporary or permanent.

"... In light of present circumstances, they will remain in force for the foreseeable future, and we cannot say whether (if at all) any of these affected employees will be recalled," United said in its letter.

United has about 1,800 employees in Hawai'i, with more than 700 at the airport, said Tom Renville, United's managing director in Hawai'i.

United announced in September that it was cutting 20 percent of its flights and 20 percent of its work force worldwide because of the sudden drop in business following the attacks, which involved the hijackings of four U.S. commercial airliners and the deaths of thousands of people.

In Hawai'i, United retained its Neighbor Island service, but cut one San Francisco-Honolulu and one Los Angeles-Honolulu flight, leaving it with seven overseas flights to Honolulu, Renville said.

Renville said "a number" of United employees in Hawai'i are on "no-pay" status, meaning they have no work and don't get paid, but they retain all their benefits.

United is one of many airlines to announce employee cutbacks following the Sept. 11 attacks. TWA and American also have said they will cut staff, but neither is releasing layoff numbers in the cities where they operate, Julia Bishop-Cross, a spokeswoman for TWA and American, said yesterday.

TWA notified the state labor department in September that it may be closing or reducing the size of its Honolulu operations. Last week American also told the state labor department that it may lay off Hawai'i employees, but it did not specify the number affected.

Hawaiian Airlines announced in September that it would furlough 430 of its 3,524 employees; Aloha Airlines said Friday it is asking most of its 3,000 employees to consider taking two days off a month without pay so it can bring back the 250 workers it furloughed last month.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly described Aloha Airlines' proposed cost-cutting step.