United ticket office to close
Advertiser Staff and Wire Services
United Airlines is closing its Ala Moana reservations center — the carrier's last ticket office in Hawai'i — later this month as part of efforts to slash costs.
United, which once had seven ticket offices in Hawai'i, will close all of its U.S. ticket offices.
Six Hawai'i-based reservationists are among the nearly 1,700 white-collar and ticketing employees to be laid off.
United, a division of UAL Corp., filed for bankruptcy a month ago after losing billions of dollars from reduced travel demand after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The furloughs, to take effect this month, will help United meet the strict requirements of its Chapter 11 financing, said Joe Hopkins, a spokesman for United.
United is the second-largest airline in the world and the largest carrier of passengers between Hawai'i and the West Coast, with two dozen flights a day. It already had closed ticket offices in Bishop Square, Pearlridge Macy's and one on Maui last year and laid off roughly 20 ticket agents, leaving only the Ala Moana office still operating.
United, which has laid off 20,000 workers since last year's terrorist attacks, employs about 81,000 people, including roughly 1,200 in Hawai'i.
The bulk of the latest layoffs involve nearly 1,500 management and salaried employees whose nonunion jobs will be cut by Jan. 19 as part of United's organizational restructuring, the Elk Grove Village, Ill.-based airline said.
The ticket office closings, effective Jan. 28, will result in the loss of an additional 188 jobs. Those employees are represented by the machinists' union.
"These changes are part of the process of creating a new business that is competitive, customer-focused and sustainable," said Sara Fields, senior vice president.
United has until Feb. 15 to cut costs or it could lose the remainder of the $1.5 billion in interim financing a group of banks extended the carrier to allow it to restructure under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The carrier says it must reduce wages by $2.4 billion a year through 2008.
Shares in United parent company UAL Corp. yesterday fell 7 cents to close at $1.30 on the New York Stock Exchange.
