American Airlines Inc. warned on Wednesday about 13,000 U.S. employees could be laid off in the coming weeks as the pandemic continues to reduce travel and run out of government money.
In a letter to employees, American Airlines AAL,
he also criticized the speed of distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine and said he expects lack of demand to continue until the summer.
Any labor impact will take effect from April 1, when government payroll aid expires, the airline said in the letter Wednesday.
Nearly five weeks into 2021, “we are in a similar situation to much of 2020,” executive chairman Doug Parker and chairman Robert Isom told employees.
With the extension of the Payroll Support Program late last year, the company “fully believed that we would be looking for a summer schedule where we would fly all our planes and need all the strength of our team. Unfortunately, this it’s not like that anymore “, they said.
“The vaccine is not being distributed as quickly as anyone thought, and new restrictions on international travel that require customers to take a negative COVID-19 test have reduced demand,” they said.
The American will fly at least 45% less during the first quarter than the first quarter of 2019 and, according to current prospects, will not fly all its aircraft in the summer as planned, he said.
Advance notices, required by law in certain areas, will come out Friday, the company said. “They don’t necessarily equate to leaseholds,” he said. The company will work with union leaders “to do everything possible to mitigate labor impact as much as possible,” he said.
The unions are urging Congress to extend the aid until Sept. 30 and the company will help with that effort, he said.
American will also open an early retirement program, with some incentives based on years of service, and a leave program, he said.
Shares of American Airlines have fallen 35% in the last twelve months, in contrast to the 18% rise in the S&P 500 SPX index,