[Lindsay Wilson]

United Airlines to axe 1,000 jobs





United has already slashed 20,000 jobs over the past three years

United Airlines plans to slash at least 1,000 jobs by the end of 2006 as part of a $400m (£217m) cost-cutting drive.

The company, which emerged from bankruptcy earlier this year, said the move should save $100m.

As well as shedding the jobs, the group will also shake up its operations and reduce its marketing spend.

The group has already axed 20,000 jobs and cut costs by $7bn as it struggled out of bankruptcy, but last month said its costs were still too high.

Second quarter

United has complained that rising oil prices are still hitting its bottom line.

Chief executive Glenn Tilton announced the plan to cut 2% of the group's salaried workforce at an analysts' conference in New York.

"We're going to reduce our costs further, we're going to take full advantage of the network that we have preserved to optimise our revenue," he said.
Mr Tilton said the group's performance during the second quarter of the year had been "better than expected" but declined to give any details.

[JohnK]

United has complained that rising oil prices are still hitting its bottom line.

When are we going to get over the rising oil price issue?

No mention is ever made of the impact to the bottom line by the ever increasing salary packages received by senior management through to the top executives.

[Kiwi Flyer]

I'm pretty sure airlines spend more on fuel than on exec salary!!

[JohnK]

Originally Posted by Kiwi Flyer

I'm pretty sure airlines spend more on fuel than on exec salary!!

I am pretty sure they do as well. High fuel prices are here to stay, factor it into your ticket prices and be done with it. OK... Maybe not as simple as that.

I wasn't trying to compare fuel costs with executive salaries but just interested to know why no mention is made of executive salaries continuing to increase while the airlines profits are declining. Where is the justification in that? Surely you would tie in executive salaries with performance of airline and if it means that increasing fuel prices have eaten into profits then no increase or bonus to executive salaries.

[Lindsay Wilson]

Then you two will be interested in this story:

UAL Corp. , the parent of United Airlines, on Monday said its preliminary results show that second-quarter earnings will be more than double Wall Street forecasts, driven by strong revenue and cost cuts, sending its shares up as much as 12 percent...

[JohnK]

Originally Posted by Lindsay Wilson

Then you two will be interested in this story:

That is good news but the cynic in me feels that the paupers are losing their jobs making the bottom line look better and then top management gets a nice bonus for increasing profits.