More Than 200 Employees of Two Airlines Facing Furloughs at Pittsburgh International Airport

Nearly 250 employees of two airlines could be facing layoffs at Pittsburgh International Airport because of the devastating impacts COVID-19 has had on travel.

Republic Airways confirmed Tuesday that it could be temporarily furloughing up to 183 employees who work at the airport on Oct. 1.

As with Republic, United Airlines has filed notice with the state under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act that it plans to temporarily lay off up to 66 workers at Pittsburgh International on the same date.

The layoffs are among 38,500 that the two airlines are contemplating systemwide this fall because of the plunge in demand for air travel precipitated by the pandemic.

The overall airlines industry received about $25 billion in federal aid in the spring to help them stay afloat amid the crisis and to save jobs. Payroll support for airline employees is set to expire Sept. 30.

“Our operations are significantly lower than what we are staffed for right now,” said Lauren Gaudion, a Republic Airways spokeswoman.

At Pittsburgh International, Indianapolis-based Republic provides flights on smaller jets for American, Delta and United airlines. It also operates a maintenance base here.

The majority of workers facing layoffs are pilots and flight attendants, although some maintenance technicians also are affected, Ms. Gaudion said.

Republic currently is handling about 15 departures a day for its partners. That’s about half the normal rate, she noted.

“And we expect that to stay the same or, unfortunately, decrease once we get into the fall and winter months,” she said.

The airline described the layoffs as temporary, saying that it intends to recall workers as demand picks up. Ms. Gaudion said that could be within a year, although there is no specific timetable.

Republic also is working with labor unions, Congress and its partner airlines to try to mitigate the number of furloughs needed this fall.

“We’re hoping to reduce that number as much as possible,” Ms. Gaudion said. “Given today’s environment, we’re not sure where that number is going to land.”

Pittsburgh is one of Republic’s larger bases, along with Indianapolis and LaGuardia in New York. Overall, the airline is planning to lay off as many as 2,500 employees.

For United, the 66 workers in Pittsburgh possibly facing layoff Oct. 1 are among about 36,000 systemwide awaiting the same fate.

“For months, we have said that our airline, and our overall workforce, needed to be smaller than it is today, starting as early as Oct. 1,” spokeswoman Rachael L. Rivas said in an emailed statement.

“Involuntary furloughs come as a last resort, after months of company-wide cost-cutting and capital-raising.”

Ms. Rivas added that United expects “to offset these numbers through increased participation in new and existing voluntary programs as well as continued discussions with our union partners about creative ways to help reduce furloughs.”

The affected employees involve customer service and ramp operations. For the month of August, United and its affiliates, minus Republic, have 176 scheduled departures from Pittsburgh. In August 2019, by comparison, it had 436.

In a letter notifying the state of the pending layoffs, Kate Gebo, United executive vice president, human resources and labor relations, said the airline lost billions of dollars in the last quarter and is still spending “far more than we are taking in.”

Demand in April dropped by 95%, though it has since improved slightly.

“However, as of mid-June, demand for air travel remains more than 90% lower than last year,” Ms. Gebo wrote.

United does not expect demand to return to normal until a vaccine for COVID-19 is found, she added.

Like airlines and other airports, Pittsburgh International has been hit hard by the pandemic. Traffic plummeted 96% in April and 89.4% in May. While it rebounded in June, it was still off 78.2% compared to the same month last year.

To cope, the airport has offered early retirements and a voluntary furlough program but has not had to resort to forced layoffs so far. In April, it received a $36 million federal grant to help offset COVID-related losses.

Mark Belko: [email protected] or 412-263-1262.

First Published August 5, 2020, 6:30am

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