Post-Labour Day cutbacks expected in US airline industry

Some of the largest US airlines are planning on initiating major cutbacks after the Labour Day holiday, which traditionally signals the end of the peak summer season. According to a CNN report, American carriers will likely end up cutting around 36,000 jobs later this year and the vast majority of these flight attendant and ground staff redundancies will be announced in the late summer or early autumn.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics anticipates that around 15 percent of all employees working for major US carriers will face lay-offs by the end of the year. While this number is certainly significant, it does not even approach the proportion of lay offs (25 percent) following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington DC. Some of the most significant cuts will be initiated by American Airlines, which has announced plans to give pink slips to approximately 8 percent of its employees. Continental Airlines expects that 3,000 fewer people will be working for it by the end of the year, while United Airlines has announced that it expects 5,500 lay-offs.

Airlines in the US and throughout the world are finding themselves strapped for cash, due to the continued high price of petrol. In fact, American transportation authorities predict that carriers will end up spending around $61 billion on petrol alone before the end of the year.

Thank you to CNN Money for the initial report.