- CHICAGO (CBS.MW) -- United
Air Lines said late Friday it's cutting 2,700, or about 11 percent, of
its flight attendants in January due to a reduced flight schedule.
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- United is fighting to avoid bankruptcy, and has suffered
from a dramatic slowdown in air travel. It's asked the US government Air
Transportation Stabilization Board to back $1.8 billion of a $2 billion
loan to help meet fourth quarter debt payments.
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- Since Sept. 11, 2001, United has cut 4,800 flight attendants,
including the latest announcement, and last month cut 1,500 maintenance,
customer service and reservations employees.
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- United said it has about 23,800 attendants in its worldwide
operations, adding that it doesn't know yet which areas will be affected
by the latest cut.
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- In its bid to gain the government loan backing, United
has been seeking concessions from its unions worth about $5.8 billion.
United's pilots are voting whether to accept $2.2 billion of those cuts.
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- The nation's No. 2 airline is also negotiating with Boeing
over its aircraft leases. Boeing said in a 10-Q SEC filing last week that
it is financing $742 million of United assets and is in talks with the
airline about restructuring costs in that area.
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- According to Reuters, United has also sought concessions
from Airbus, the European aerospace manufacturer, and from the General
Electric engine-making subsidiary.
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- Shares of United's parent UAL UAL: were down 63 cents
to $3.28 on Friday.
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- Greg Morcroft is New York news editor of CBS.MarketWatch.com.
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