Alaska Airlines, other major carriers announce furloughs after COVID-19 benefits end

SEATTLE -- For several major air carriers, including Alaska Airlines, United and American Airlines, and their employees, Thursday is the day COVID-19 could begin to ground jobs at the companies.

A spokesperson for Seattle-based Alaska Airlines told KOMO News that it would furlough 532 of its workers, out of a total workforce of about 23,000, because Congress had failed to extend the Payroll Support Program, which was part of the federal CARES Act.

The Congressional legislation allocated $25 billion to airlines to keep them from having to lay off a large chunk of their workforce because of the coronavirus crisis, but that money was only good through the end of September.

Airlines say they will need another $25 billion from the government, or tens of thousands of employees will be told they don’t have a job.

And right now, no agreement in Congress is imminent.

"My message to Congress is that we are real people," said Kacy Lunceford, United AFA flight attendant. "We are aviation's first responders and frontline workers and our livelihood and our health care is literally in their hands."

In a written statement, the Alaska Airlines spokesperson said 720 of its employees had volunteered for early retirement while another 4,468 had taken voluntary leave. The company said, however, that no pilots, maintenance technicians or dispatchers have been furloughed so far.

Airlines have backing on both sides of the aisle right now for another deal for government cash, but an agreement has little chance of happening before the pink slips start going out.

American Airlines says it is planning to furlough 19,000 workers, and United Airlines says they could lay off around 12,000.

Airlines are warning lawmakers that once those airline jobs are lost, they will be hard to re-fill later because of the training and certification those workers need.

Meanwhile, airline leaders are waiting for any kind of last second word from lawmakers that more money is on the way, but once the clock struck midnight Thursday morning, they say they now have to start moving forward with cutting jobs.

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