American airlines warn of October furloughs

American Airlines Group Inc. expects to have between 10 and 20 percent more workers than needed in July 2021, CEO Doug Parker told employees at a town hall this week, and said that avoiding furloughs will be difficult.

Weathering a sharp hit to business due to the coronavirus pandemic, American and other US airlines have warned of furloughs in October, which is when government payroll aid for airlines expires, but said they were hoping to avoid them.

“It’s going to be even harder than I thought,” Parker said at an employee town hall on Wednesday, adding that “revenue is not coming back as fast as we’d like.”

As of the end of last year, American had 133,700 employees, more than any other US airline. Reuters