American Airlines warns of more than 1,000 possible furloughs in Philadelphia

American Airlines, Philadelphia’s largest air carrier, said it could furlough 1,032 employees in the region in April, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to wear on its business.

Those furloughs are expected to be temporary, American told state regulators in a recent filing. An additional 28 people are expected to lose their jobs permanently, according to the filing.

While airlines won an extension of federal payroll support for workers until April 1, American executives said last week the company can no longer count on flying all of its aircraft this summer, and may have to furlough up to 13,000 employees company-wide.

“The vaccine is not being distributed as quickly as any of us believed, and new restrictions on international travel that require customers to have a negative COVID-19 test have dampened demand,” American’s CEO Doug Parker and president Robert Isom said in a Feb. 3 letter to employees.

American will fly “at least 45% less” during the first quarter of the year, compared to the same period in 2019, they said.

Companies are sometimes required by law to disclose potential layoffs or furloughs in advance, under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, known as WARN. American stressed that not all of the announced furloughs will necessarily take place.

“It is our sincere hope that this number decreases based on factors such as additional voluntary leaves of absences and voluntary early outs, or changes in the demand environment,” the company said in a filing with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor.

American employs about 9,500 people in Philadelphia. The Pennsylvania filing did not specify which types of jobs would be affected locally.

Across the company, American detailed about 12,000 furloughs by work group in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Flight attendants would bear the brunt, with 4,245 furloughs, followed by 3,145 among fleet service, 1,850 among pilots, 1,420 among maintenance and related workers, and 1,205 furloughs among passenger service employees.

The Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA), an employee union, told workers that it is advocating in Congress for another extension of the Payroll Support Program as lawmakers debate more COVID-19 economic relief. “We need a seamless continuation of this successful jobs program that has kept us connected to our paycheck and health care,” the union said last week.

APFA also said it supports employee leave packages being offered by the company to avoid involuntary furloughs.

American Airlines has received close to $9 billion in federal payroll support during the pandemic. That includes $3.1 billion from the second round of the program enacted in December and $5.8 billion under the CARES Act last spring.

Last fall, hundreds of American Airlines flight attendants in Philadelphia lost their jobs when the first round of federal economic relief expired. The relief aid extension in December meant those same flight attendants could return to work, and get a paycheck from December through the end of March, according to the union.

About 800 Philly flight attendants who were out of work are coming back in two groups — on March 1 and April 1, said APFA spokesperson Paul Hartshorn Jr.

Now some of those same employees could be facing job losses again come April.

Between the lack of job security, and the risks of coronavirus exposure, “it’s been difficult for all fight attendants, whether they’ve been laid off or are still flying,” Hartshorn said.