FORT WORTH (WBAP/KLIF)- American Airlines may have to layoff thousands of employees if they don’t get additional help from Congress.
The Fort Worth-based company expects to cut 19,000 employees on October 1st due impacts from Covid-19.
“The numbers are nothing short of staggering… we knew this was a possibility as demand has waned for air travel,” said Paul Hartshorn with the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, representing American Airlines. “In fact, demand is even worse than what we predicted into the Fall and Winter,” he said.
Hartshorn said the Payroll Support Program, within the CARES Act, was keeping workers connected to their pay checks and health benefits. However, that’s expected to run out at the end of September.
“We are going to continue lobbying our congressman for extension of the program,” he said.
Harstrom said over 2,000 flight attendants took advantage of early retirement and some were awarded a voluntary leave of absence to keep the layoffs as low as possible.
