The Airline notified the employees that it does not expect demand to return to anywhere near normal until a vaccine is developed; and that nobody had expected the pandemic to last this long and affect travel so badly. The impacted workers include 2,850 pilots and 6,920 flight attendants.

United Airlines has said that it is planning to furlough 16,370 employees on Oct. 1, as the federal restriction against layoffs under the CARES Act expires on that date.

The impacted workers include 2,850 pilots and 6,920 flight attendants.

The Airline notified the employees that it does not expect demand to return to anywhere near normal until a vaccine is developed; and that nobody had expected the pandemic to last this long and affect travel so badly.

The carrier had previously alerted about 36,000 employees about the potential job cuts. However, later, it was able to reduce that number through various voluntary buyouts and early retirement programmes. Roughly about 7,400 workers have already opted for voluntary buyouts or early retirements and thousands of others agreed on to long-term leaves of absence.

Airlines have not been able to avoid resorting to furloughs despite all these programmes and efforts to cut costs. 

The only way the Airline can avoid furloughs is if the CARES Act payroll protection is extended. However, the Airline does not expect to receive any more assistance even though it is in touch with the Government seeking the same.

Previous to the COVID-19 outbreak, United Airlines had just under 100,000 employees.

Last month, American Airlines announced its intent to cut off approximately 17,500 employees based in the US. The workers being affected include about 1,600 pilots and 8,100 flight attendants. Delta Air Lines has also revealed plans to furlough almost 2,000 pilots this fall.

Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways both have to endeavour to avoid any layoffs, at least in the short term.