Despite Recent Past, 7,500 Applicants Vie For 2,000 Openings

Source: Rocky Mountain News
Author: Chris Walsh

November 15, 2005

United Airlines, flying under bankruptcy protection since late 2002, has cut wages and benefits twice in recent years and eliminated its pension plans to cut billions of dollars in costs.

Yet the carrier is having no trouble finding candidates for nearly 2,000 new flight attendant positions.

United said it received 7,500 applications Sunday - the first day it has recruited flight attendants from outside the company since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Of those, United already has identified more than 2,600 candidates who meet its criteria.

"We expected maybe to get 1,000 applications on the first day," said United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski. "This clearly shows a lot of people want to work at United."

Urbanski said the carrier is still working on compiling application numbers from Monday.

The union that represents flight attendants at United Airlines said the strong response doesn't come as a surprise.

"A lot of people throughout the past few years have lost their jobs because a carrier shut down or conducted layoffs," said Sara Nelson Dela Cruz, a spokeswoman for the Association of Flight Attendants.

United, a unit of Chicago-based UAL Corp., is the largest airline in Denver and employs more than 5,500 here. It has cut nearly 25,000 jobs since 2001.

The carrier, which recalled all of its remaining furloughed flight attendants this year, last week announced plans to hire 2,000 new attendants in coming months from outside the airline.

The positions come as United grows its international service, flies its planes longer each day and prepares to exit bankruptcy in February. Some hires also will replace flight attendants who retired or left for other reasons.

The new positions, which start at about $24,000 a year, will be based in Chicago and Washington, D.C.