United Airlines may end up furloughing nearly half its US staff by October

United Airlines has warned that 36,000 employees, nearly half its US staff, could be furloughed in October in a clear indication of how deeply the virus pandemic is hurting the airline industry.

The outlook for a recovery in the airline industry has dimmed in just the past two weeks, as infection rates rise in the US and some states impose new quarantine requirements on travellers, according to a PTI report.

Airlines say they must shrink to match falling travel demand. American Airlines executives have said they could have 20,000 more employees than the airline will need this fall. United told employees  that not everyone who gets a layoff notice will be furloughed.

The airline said job losses could be reduced if enough employees accept buyouts or early retirement by a deadline this week. The company added it was unable to estimate the cost of workforce reductions for the rest of the year.

If every US airline matched United’s worst-case scenario of furloughs, it could be extrapolated to about 240,000 lost jobs nationwide, given United’s share of the domestic market. Helane Becker, an analyst for Cowen, predicted that US airlines will end 2020 with 150,000 to 200,000 fewer employees than they had at the end of 2019.