Dec. 13—United Airlines said it anticipated creating up to 2,200 jobs next year at San Francisco International Airport as part of an expansion to include the purchase of 100 new wide-body jets.
The jobs at SFO will coincide with a previous order of planes, which will add 270 smaller aircraft to the domestic fleet. Additional landings and departures will necessitate, pilots, flight attendants, technicians, customer service representatives, ramp workers and baggage handlers. With the new jobs, 10,000 United employees at the airport will become 12,200 by the end of 2023.
"Bottom line is that we expect to be a larger airline next year, and with more flights we need more team members to support that growing operation," said Maddie King, a spokesperson for United.
A new nonstop flight to Rome will begin service in May 2023. Already the largest carrier to Australia, United is building on that by adding a nonstop to Brisbane.
The aircraft are 787 Dreamliners to be made by Boeing with an option to buy 100 more. The purchase amounts to the largest order of wide-body planes in the history of commercial aviation, according to a press release. Counting narrow bodies, United will replace a total of 700 aircraft in its fleet by 2032. The new aircraft will begin arriving in 2023. The Dreamliners will be built at the Boeing facility in North Charleston, S.C., and the narrow bodies in Renton, Wash.
The United hub at SFO serves 32 international destinations, and these long routes are the primary market for the 787. The announcement that United will expand its presence in San Francisco comes after rival American Airlines said in September it would shrink its presence at SFO by closing its flight attendant hub, which has been confirmed. This will cause an estimated 400 American Airlines flight attendants to seek home bases out of state.
The companywide job increases will be largely in the categories of pilots and flight attendants. The airline expects to add 2,500 pilots in 2023, toward a total of 10,000 new pilots by the end of the decade. An additional 4,000 flight attendants will be hired in 2023 toward a total of 17,000 in coming years.
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