American to hire 18,000 workers next year
Fort Worth-based American Airlines plans to hire 18,000 new employees in 2022 as it tries to staff up coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an advance copy of testimony that CEO Doug Parker plans to share with lawmakers Wednesday.
Parker and other airline CEOS are being called on to explain why airlines are struggling with labor shortages when Congress gave the industry $54 billion in 2020 and 2021 to survive the worst of the pandemic downturn.
American Airlines alone received more than $12.8 billion in government payroll support.
But Parker, in his prepared testimony, says government support to avoid layoffs and furloughs “saved the airline industry, which Congress and the administration recognized as critical infrastructure that is as essential to the economy as it is unique.”
“Each time we add to our ranks, it’s like a dividend payment on the investment made in our team through the PSP; instead of building back from collapse, we’re growing to provide more promising careers in good-paying jobs to hard-working individuals who are the lifeblood of our nation’s economy,” Parker said.
American Airlines has 121,200 workers nationwide, including its regional carriers, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. About 30,000 of those are in Dallas-fort Worth.
American Airlines and other carriers have often blamed staffing shortages for major meltdowns, including some this summer and into fall that left hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded by delays and cancellations. American, along with Dallas-based Southwest, has promised to hire thousands of employees this year to be ready for the surge in traffic the air travel industry has seen since the widespread distribution of COVID-19 vaccines started early this year.
American Airlines has already hired 16,000 employees this year, including 1,350 pilots, more than 1,600 flight attendants and 2,000 reservations agents.
American Airlines told employees this month that it plans to hire 2,100 pilots next year, a number that has more than doubled since July.
The hearing of the Senate Commerce and Transportation Committee is slated for Wednesday and is also scheduled to include Gary Kelly, CEO of Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, and Chicagobased United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby.
American Airlines and others furloughed more than 17,000 employees in late 2020, and American cut its administrative ranks by thousands as well as the airline tried to offset deep losses from the drop in flying during the pandemic.
Despite the government aid, American still lost $8.9 billion in 2020, although it managed to swing small profits in the second and third quarters of this year due to the stimulus payments.
Airline passenger numbers remain 10 percent to 20 percent below pre-pandemic levels, according to industry trade group Airlines 4 America, but the airline sector also has about 28,000 fewer jobs than it did at this time in 2019, including 10,000 fewer jobs at American Airlines.
American, Southwest and others encouraged thousands of workers to take buyout and early retirement packages to shrink payroll costs without officially laying off any employees.
Other employees took leave of up to 18 months, and the last of those employees are only now coming back from their voluntary time away.
Due to the reduction in workers and the swift increase in flying, American Airlines pilots and flight attendants have complained about tough conditions, including sleeping in terminals and being asked to work extended trips that keep them away from home. Flight attendants and other airline workers have complained that unruly passenger behavior is making it difficult to do their jobs.
Parker said American is allocating more staffing hours to flying than before the pandemic.
“When it comes to having the team we need, we are in as good of a position now as in recent years, if not better,” Parker’s testimony says. “Nonetheless, there are pandemic-related factors at play that have caused our operation to run tight when extraordinary disruptions arise.”