SAN FRANCISCO—On Tuesday, August 4, American Airlines announced they will furlough over 700 employees at the San Francisco and Oakland airports on October 1 due to financial complications from fewer people traveling during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Fort Worth, TX based airline company plans to furlough about 378 workers at each Bay Area airport. Most of the furloughs will be temporary. Bay Area employees only represent a portion of the 25,000 furloughs the company announced back in July. In addition, after 75 years of service, American Airlines will permanently shut down operations at Oakland International Airport on the same date as the layoffs.
This comes following United Airlines’ announcement last month that they also had to furlough 40 percent of their workforce, including 6,500 employees at San Francisco International Airport.
Both United and American Airlines have to wait until October 1 to start laying off workers because of financial aid restrictions that the Federal CARES Act provided to both companies. The initial reported amount of planned layoffs may decrease thanks to union discussions and workers taking voluntary buyouts.
