
American Airlines to Furlough 25,000 Employees - cockpitherald
https://airlinegeeks.com/2020/07/15/american-airlines-announces-furlough-notices/
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nugget
Every morning M-F, TSA publishes daily traveler numbers for the previous
day(s):

[https://www.tsa.gov/coronavirus/passenger-
throughput](https://www.tsa.gov/coronavirus/passenger-throughput)

It’s a good snapshot of the state of air travel in the US. Yesterday’s volume
was 22% of the same date a year earlier (July 14, 2019) and I expect volume
may fall below 20% next week as the virus surge causes marginal travel plans
to be cancelled.

The low point in absolute travelers was April 14 when 87k people flew, less
than 4% (!) of the previous year’s 2.2 million.

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pcurve
not going to lie... I was still shocked at how quickly the numbers went up
starting June.

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Beefin
> These letters indicate that potential layoffs or furloughs are possible in
> the near future as air travel demand continues to suffer due to COVID-19.

it's a warning of a furlough, not an actual furlough.

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9nGQluzmnq3M
Unless COVID magically goes away(tm) by October 1st and travel rebounds to
where it was before, which is looking _exceedingly_ unlikely, the furloughs
will happen as soon as the payroll subsidies end.

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jmpman
I remember reading about people upset that the Airline executives were going
to continue making their millions when getting government assistance. I was
upset that the unionized airline pilots making $400k/year weren’t going to be
asked for any concession. Surely it’s better for the industry to drive down
wages during this downturn than just furlough.

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venki80
Is there a scenario in which all the major airlines collapse?

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anonmidniteshpr
Nope. See also: Amtrak.

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FreakyT
On the contrary, Amtrak represents the exact scenario that OP was asking
about. It was created following the complete collapse of all the major
passenger railroads.

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ceejayoz
I think the point was "there'll always be passenger service", not "the current
companies will survive unscathed".

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anonmidniteshpr
The worst case is they could all merge into "Amwings" and those who choose to
AGTOW would go bankrupt. I doubt it. Consolidation down to fewer major
carriers per country would happen first because it's not like HYPErloop is
going to put airlines or air cargo out of biz anytime soon.

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tanilama
Can someone educate me what exactly is the difference between furlough and
layoff?

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9nGQluzmnq3M
A layoff is permanent, and even if the position is reinstated, you have no
claim to get your old job back.

A furlough is meant to be temporary and some benefits may contain to be paid
out. If the company starts bringing people back in, those on furlough will be
rehired first if still available.

That said, if the company doesn't recover fast enough or goes under entirely,
there's no difference in practice.

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anonmidniteshpr
Juan at blancolirio announced this about a week ago. He doesn't hold much hope
returning to a trip 7 right seat but is exploring firefighting and other
options.

