American Airlines is beginning the phased return of furloughed workers after the U.S. Congress passed a pandemic aid package with $15b in payroll support for airlines, its executives said in a staff memo Tuesday. “While pay and benefits will be restored right away, people will be asked to return to the operation in phases,” CE Doug Parker and President Robert Isom said in the memo, released by American. Air passenger traffic is down by about 70% versus a year ago. United Airlines executives warned on Monday that its recall of furloughed employees after the fresh aid would be “temporary,” saying “we just don’t see anything in the data that shows a huge difference in bookings over the next few months.” American said the relief would help airlines serve passengers once the pandemic subsides, and in the nearer term, aid in the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and other critical supplies. American, which has furloughed nearly 19,000 employees since October, stands to receive roughly $3b from the payroll package, one person briefed on the matter said.<br/>
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American Airlines will be restoring daily service at the Huntington Tri-State Airport in West Virginia. The daily flights to Charlotte, North Carolina, will begin Jan. 6, the Herald-Dispatch reported. American Airlines will offer daily flights to and from the Charlotte Douglas International Airport, said Brent Brown, executive director of the airport. He said flight reservations are now being taken at the American Airlines website.<br/>
No matter how hard Covid-19 squeezes its finances, JAL. must stick to a philosophy of preserving jobs and keeping workers happy, according to its former assistant chairman Yoshihito Ohta, who played a key role in the company’s turnaround from collapse a decade ago. Like most carriers around the world, JAL has been floored by the pandemic. It forecasts losses of as much as 270b yen ($2.6b) this fiscal year, its first slide into the red since emerging from one of the country’s biggest-ever bankruptcies. Japan Airlines is maintaining most of its wider 35,000-strong workforce despite being left with extra staff for its more threadbare flight schedule. A few hundred employees have been sent to work short-term at places such as KDDI Corp. and Nojima Corp., as well as in factories, call centers and local governments. A Japan Airlines spokesperson said workers won’t be furloughed and they’d have opportunities to learn new skills as part of the company’s “basic policy.” Low-cost unit Zipair Tokyo said in October it would take on about 100 staff from the wider Japan Airlines group. “They seem to be sticking to the principle,” Ohta said. “It isn’t easy for them to do so, but I am the very person who kept telling them to do their best to protect jobs no matter what happens in the future.”<br/>