Story Created:
Jun 8, 2007 at 5:25 PM AKDT
Story Updated:
Jun 8, 2007 at 5:25 PM AKDT
ANCHORAGE – United Airlines has announced that it will only offer flights, from Anchorage in the summer – that was news that local United Airline employees were not happy to hear and they are not allowed to talk about it.
According to United Airline officials, the company will eliminate all 45 of it's Anchorage employees and discontinue “off season” flights.
A spokesperson for United Airlines said that getting rid of the company's Anchorage flights, that would take place from September to March, makes good business sense.
The spokesperson also said that United Airlines only has four planes at the Anchorage airport, and it only operates one of those planes in the winter, adding, that during the summer months, the company takes more than 250 flights out of Anchorage, while it only makes one trip, per day, during the “off season.”
United nearly doubles its number of employees – usually hiring 40 temporary workers to help with summer tourist.
Although United's discontinued flights will cut down on flying options for winter travelers, some tourist say they're not too concerned about off-season trips to Anchorage, saying that they fly up here for the cool summers, not the cold winters.
Ronald McWilliams a passenger of United Airlines said, “we like to take our vacation usually during the summertime and if you want to go to Alaska, summertime is a good time to go, because if it's winter time, it's going to be too cold. So the idea is coming during the summer time is actually an excellent time to go.”
As of the first week of September, 2007, United will no longer offer any of the “off-season” flights.
Not all of United's permanent employees will be out of job completely, come September, Actually, 39 of the employees are union members, meaning United has to offer them some sort of transfer option to another United location.
The company plans to hire a third party to work at their counter, just for the summer. These employees can take a new job within the third party company that United chooses. As for the remaining six employees, according to United, they can apply for other jobs within the company.
Reported by: Christina Coleman
