Carriers Recall Workers, Add Capacity

American Airlines late last month announced the single largest service resumption of any U.S. carrier since Sept. 11. More than 40 roundtrips to 37 destinations from its Dallas/Ft. Worth hub will be added throughout the next several weeks, along with restored flights in other key markets. Meanwhile, United Airlines said its April schedule will include 127 restored flights throughout its system.

With traffic levels rebounding from devastatingly low levels since September, a few airlines also have recalled furloughed employees and begun restoring capacity. Partially mending convenient schedules for time-sensitive business travelers, some carriers have restarted routes from major hubs, adjusted frequencies upward and gradually reconnected with Reagan Washington National Airport.

Despite some predictions of near-complete traffic recovery by the third quarter, some carriers, including Delta Air Lines, have yet to announce any employee recalls and resumed service only on select routes.

American said the new services, phased in beginning Jan. 31, will help it restore late-evening connections on westbound and short-haul flights. "We'll add another layer of new service in the March schedule and, unless the economy dips south, more in April," said American Airlines CEO Don Carty in a message to employees. "It's part of our strategy to gradually and thoughtfully restore capacity as we see demand start to grow, especially among business travelers."

AA on March 2 also will begin two daily nonstops between New York JFK and Oakland, competing with incumbent JetBlue Airways, followed on April 19 by new JFK-Tokyo service. The new routes are among nine roundtrip flights to be added at JFK throughout the spring. "New York has always been a key city for American. All indications are that this growth will continue," said Mike Gunn, executive vice president of marketing and planning.

Rising traffic levels enabled AA in December to begin recalling 800 reservationists. AA also is bringing back as many as 400 flight attendants and hundreds of airport workers.

United Airlines, too, is recalling flight attendants and planning fewer pilot furloughs, though it acknowledged "additional sacrifices may need to be made." However, it will add 127 mainline daily departures to its April schedule, including 17 restored flights at its Chicago O'Hare hub and 26 in its Denver hub. Operations at Los Angeles and San Francisco also will increase, including beefed up transcontinental service to Boston Logan, New York JFK and Washington Dulles.

America West Airlines, which recently received loan guarantees from the federal government, next month will begin bringing back 75 pilots of 179 furloughed, or 42 percent. The carrier already has recalled 650 employees in customer service and reservations areas and reinstated one-third of all flights cut after Sept. 11. AWA said additional flights will be added to the schedule throughout the spring.

Continental Airlines has yet to recall employees and expects capacity to remain at least 10 percent lower year over year during the first half of the year. It did, however, resume flights between its Cleveland hub and Washington National and added numerous seasonal frequencies to leisure destinations. It also moved up by a month, to April 15, the resumption of daily Cleveland-London Gatwick service.

Aside from restarting New York JFK to Washington National flights, Delta has resumed domestic service mainly with Delta Connection carriers linking smaller destinations to major hubs and seasonal mainline service to leisure destinations. Internationally, however, Delta last month relaunched New York JFK to Brussels flights in the wake of the Sabena collapse and on April 1 will launch new nonstop service between its Atlanta hub and Milan Malpensa. A second daily New York JFK to Paris flight will begin March 15. The carrier has yet to announce any employee recalls.

Northwest Airlines also has not recalled employees, but an executive told Business Travel News that decisions to restore capacity are imminent. Northwest already added frequencies on certain routes and is expected to significantly boost service through Detroit once its new mammoth terminal at the airport opens later this month. Further, Northwest plans to follow through with 61 new aircraft deliveries and "add capacity conservatively when it is clear that it will improve our financial position."

US Airways, most affected by the slow resumption of service at Washington National, said its fourth-quarter capacity still was down nearly 20 percent. It expects first-quarter capacity to remain at that depressed level.

Southwest Airlines, which did not materially reduce its schedule nor lay off any employees, said it continues to "cautiously resume growth plans."