One of the top airline companies in the United States is laying off close to 20,000 employees as air travel has scaled back considerably during the pandemic.
In a statement released by American Airlines on Tuesday, CEO Doug Parker said the unprecedented nature of the coronavirus pandemic forced the company to reassess the economic situation for the transportation giant.
“We have come to you many times throughout the pandemic, often with sobering updates on a world none of us could have imagined,” Parker wrote. “Today is the hardest message we have had to share so far — the announcement of involuntary staffing reductions effective Oct. 1.”
The Forth Worth-based airline, which employs more than 150,000 people, must wait until after Sept. 30 to lay off employees as part of contingencies established relating to the $25 billion federal aid the airline received in coronavirus pandemic relief.
Executives with the company said an extension of federal aid is “the one possibility of avoiding these involuntary reductions on Oct. 1.”
American Airlines’s stock was down more than 4% in trading on Tuesday following the layoffs announcement.
