United Airlines rehiring
By Dave Carpenter
Associated Press
CHICAGO — In another sign of the airline industry's modest recovery, United Airlines said yesterday it is recalling another 1,300 employees who were laid off last fall and hiring an additional 900 in key markets.
The ramp, customer and cabin service employees are being recalled at United's five hubs — Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington-Dulles — to help the carrier meet its expanded summer schedule.
"To support the increased operation, we have already begun to recall employees who were placed on furlough status last fall," said Patti Carson, a United vice president. "While we still have a long road ahead of us, United is very happy to recall more than a thousand of our employees."
United announced earlier this month that it is adding 170 daily flights to its summer schedule, effective June 7. That would restore the Elk Grove Village, Ill.-based airline's schedule to almost 1,900 daily flights in June, compared with 2,400 before the Sept. 11 attacks.
"United's capacity will still be about 17 percent below where it was at this time last year, so the company will only be able to recall employees in certain markets," Carson said.
After the attacks, United slashed capacity by 23 percent and laid off 20,000 employees. The carrier already has recalled hundreds of those workers — customer-contact employees, ramp workers, mechanics and flight attendants.
In Hawai'i, United cut 14 weekly flights after Sept. 11, but has since restored all of them. By June, the carrier also plans to have added nine additional weekly flights to the islands to meet demand that has been particularly strong from the West Coast.
The newly recalled employees will return to work by the end of May, with new hires being added during the first week of June.
After the recalls, United said, it plans to recruit about 900 new hires through newspaper ads and radio commercials. Spokesman Chris Brathwaite said the airline hopes many of those jobs can be filled by furloughed employees.
