United Airlines to lay off 950 pilots - cuts in addition to those announced earlier

Chicago: United Airlines has made public plans to jettison 950 pilot jobs, starting this summer. The job cuts are in addition to the already announced planned layoffs of 1,600 salaried positions, as well as fleet reductions.

The airline informed its pilots union about the cuts at the start of the week, and is in the process of working out the reductions.

UAL Corp., United Airlines' Chicago-based parent has made a number of corrective measures over the past few weeks in order to combat the rising cost of fuel. These include grounding around 70 planes, as well as an announcement last week that it will require minimum stays for nearly all domestic coach seats, starting October.

It is also hiking its cheapest one-way fares by almost $90.

The airline also joined US Airways and American Airlines in charging passengers $15 for their first checked in baggage. UAL shares fell 15 per cent on Monday to $6.09.

According to Megan McCarthy, spokesperson for the airline, the initial notices for the layoffs will be sent out in mid-July, and will start taking effect in September, following into next year. She said that United has around 6,600 active pilots.

She also said that the cuts announced were in addition to the job cuts for 1,600 salaried positions announced at an investor conference a week ago.  Details on the cuts are yet to emerge.

A company statement said, "As we reduce the size of our fleet and take actions company wide to enable United to compete in an environment of record fuel prices, we must take the difficult but necessary step to reduce the number of people we have to run our business."