Airlines adding a few jobs
CHICAGO -- Employment prospects for airline workers are better now than at any time since the Sept. 11 attacks, but the slight uptick in demand may not create jobs for all out-of-work airline professionals or lift the industry's decimated wage structure.
Large carriers such as United Airlines, US Airways, and Continental Airlines have been adding staff since last year as competition on some routes has subsided and cost cuts have narrowed losses.
Still, struggling carriers continue to slash labor costs. Bankrupt Delta Air Lines, for example, is laying off thousands. Experts say joblessness abounds and compensation is down significantly as airlines struggle to keep costs in check.
''We're in a hiring situation, not in a furlough situation, but I don't think that tells the whole story," said Sara Nelson Dela Cruz, spokeswoman for the Association of Flight Attendants, which represents flight attendants at United and some smaller carriers. ''It doesn't tell the story of the thousands of people who were laid off after Sept. 11," she said. ''And it doesn't tell the story of the thousands of people who had to leave because they could no longer afford to stay in this industry."
Dela Cruz said that first-year flight attendants at United make about $17,000 a year, down from $21,000 before the attacks.
Government data show that the number of workers at ''major" airlines -- as classified by the Transportation Department -- fell 21.6 percent from 2000 to 2004. Airlines added about 2,800 jobs in 2005, the first increase since 2000.
Continental spokesman Ned Walker said, ''We've called back all of our employees and have been in an aggressive hiring mode to accommodate previously announced growth as well as attrition." He said the airline plans to hire more than 3,900 people this year as it expands internationally.
US Air, formed by a merger between the former US Air and America West airlines, said this week that it would recall about 400 flight attendants. The carrier previously said it would recall 55 pilots and hire about 200 reservations agents.
United Airlines had about 103,000 employees before the Sept. 11 attacks, but now employs about 57,000. But increased flying, especially on international routes, has allowed the carrier to recall all its flight attendants who took voluntary furlough. United is hiring 2,100 flight attendants and plans to recall 300 pilots this year.
Northwest shed 1,295 workers in the fourth quarter of 2005; American Airlines cut staff 24 percent since Sept. 11, 2001, but has brought some workers back, rehiring 1,300 flight attendants through November 2004.
