United, pilots union reach tentative agreements for early retirements and voluntary furloughs

United and the union that represents its some 13,000 pilots have reached a tentative agreement for voluntary furloughs and early retirement packages, the latest effort to slash costs as the coronavirus pandemic devastates travel demand. United is the last of the four biggest US carriers to reach such an agreement with pilots. The deal comes as chances for a recovery in air travel grow more remote as cases of Covid-19 spike and states like New York and New Jersey issue quarantine orders for some arriving travellers in a bid to stop the disease from spreading, executives have warned. The deal would need to be ratified by union leaders next week, the union said in a note to its members. The agreement was announced a day after United warned about 36,000 employees ⁠— close to 40% of its workforce ⁠— that they could be potentially furloughed when the terms of federal aid that prohibit job cuts expire on Oct. 1. That included possible furloughs of more than 2,200 United pilots. “Unfortunately, this may not be the full extent of the furloughs, and we must be prepared for more based on the Company’s plan to be 30 percent smaller next summer,” Capt. Todd Insler, chairman of the United chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association, wrote to members Thursday.<br/>