Work and Employment in Airlines: What Is at Stake?

Abstract

Can the airline industry provide a fair return to investors, high quality and reliable service to its customers, and good jobs for its employees? Measured against these three stakeholders’ interests, the U.S. airline industry is failing. In the first five years of the twenty-first century, U.S. airlines lost $30 billion dollars. Four of the largest companies wiped out their investors’ equity in bankruptcy. U.S. airlines also cut wages by over $15 billion and laid off one hundred thousand workers. Worker morale fell to an all-time low, and customer complaints rose to record levels as companies cut back capacity to fill planes and cut services and frills to save money.