United Airlines may lay off as many as 36,000 employees

NEW YORK: United Airlines said Wednesday it could lay off as many as 36,000 workers on October 1 as the US carrier fights for survival amid the coronavirus crisis.

The big US airline emphasized that it must cut costs due a severe drop in demand for air travel, but although it will notify frontline employees of the potential job cuts, it does not expect everyone who receives the notice to be furloughed. "The reality is that United simply cannot continue at our current payroll level past October 1 in an environment where travel demand is so depressed," according to a memo released by the company. The level of job cuts would account for close to 38 percent of United's total headcount as of the end of March.

United does not expect travel to normalize "until there is a widely available treatment or vaccine" for Covid-19, the memo said. The "involuntary furloughs come as a last resort, after months of company-wide cost-cutting and capital-raising."