United To Announce More Fleet, Job Cuts

[Gerald A]

The airline will drop 64 Boeing 737s by the end of next year, and also remove six 747s, the paper said.



June 4, 2008

United Airlines plans to reduce its mainline fleet by another 70 aircraft by the end of 2009 and announce further job cuts, the Wall Street Journal said on Wednesday.

The airline is expected to announce the planned cuts to its fleet of 460 aircraft later on Wednesday, the paper reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The airline will drop 64 Boeing 737s by the end of next year, and also remove six 747s, the paper said.

UAL will also announce additional cuts of salaried and management workers, with cuts of unionized positions to follow later, the paper said.

UAL said in April it would cut 500 salaried and management workers and eliminate 600 union jobs by the end of 2008. It had also said it would cut 30 aircraft.

The newspaper said while the move would help the Chicago-based airline to deal with surging fuel costs, it would result in furloughs of unionized workers and a major reduction in routes that may be less profitable.

The company is also expected to ditch its domestic leisure service Ted, which has 56 Airbus A320 aircraft, and restore first-class cabins in some of those planes, the WSJ said.

United and rival US Airways ended merger talks last month.

(Reuters)

[D Chan]

They should axe Tilton and bring in someone who can actually turn UA around instead of looking for merger partners.
Basing their survival strategy on mergers to me is not a good way to go...

[Andrew M]

Yep people think Dixon is bad, at least he runs a profitable airline

Tilton has no idea, but of course that is coming from an armchair critic

End of the day results say it all !

UA is not getting the results they need

At least by cutting these routes they get rid of the oldest planes in their fleet!

[Mike Scott]

Getting rid of the older fleet is one thing...not having any (not one) new AC on order however is something else:(

Tilton really does not have a clue.

MS

[Grant Smith]

Getting rid of the older fleet is one thing...not having any (not one) new AC on order however is something else:(

The same could be said for the cabin crew...

;)

[Tom Lohdan]

TED is Dead, so United found the replacement aircraft.

UA will refit the 319/320 into mainline seating.

RAR!!

The same could be said for the cabin crew... ;)

I would have thought you liked the older ladies ;)

[Andrew M]

Getting rid of the older fleet is one thing...not having any (not one) new AC on order however is something else:(

Tilton really does not have a clue.

MS

I thought I would see you in here :(

Yep the 757's are not getting any newer either. The A319/A320s are okay, but easier to cut capacity and use TED's planes for mainline.

Hope all is as well as it can Mike I am sure you looking even more forward to your retirement now as well :D

Oil back to $130 a barrell again too :(

[Mike Scott]

A couple of comments (dont want this to become another KK thread)first is that they should have left Ted alone...it actually makes money (aka profitable) so why mess with something that is working out..especially after all the money spent getting it into business in the first place...reason is that the high mileage business customers complained that there was no first class (that's what we are told anyway) so go figure !!!

Regarding retiring the older fleet (as in FA's) funny that should be mentioned...the AFA just concluded an early out offer with the company for those above 45 and with over 15 years of service...problem is that their "financial package" is lousy so given the times that we live of course very few will take the offer so there will be more furloughs since they are getting rid of a bunch of planes so dont need crew. All the new ones they jsut hired in the last couple of intakes (including the hottie replacements for the flying grandmothers) will be affected since everything in airline life is based on seniority. I'm hoping that they come up with an early out for the pilot group so I can exit this whole flying circus that is now the airline industry in general. I might look at a GA or commuter operation in Oz but will need to be either OOG or BNE base so keep your eyes open for me in exactly 2 years three months and 6 days......but maybe sooner/who knows whats coming down the line....they may raise the price of oil but better leave the price of beer alone.:D

Cheers

MS

[Grant Smith]

I would have thought you liked the older ladies ;)

Well there's older ladies and then there's UA cabin crew...

:eek:

[Mike Scott]

Which are the oldest of the "older ladies" so old in fact that they creak when they walk (if they can walk) the blue in their hair matches the blue water in the Lav, they have more miles on them than all of our aircraft fleet put together, and "gear up" when applied to them has a whole new meaning.

MS

[Andrew M]

Oil up to $138 a barrel :(