The pilots of United Airlines worked with the airline in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks to help save United Airlines from going out of business.
Major sacrifices were made by the pilots to support the company.
In the years since September 11, 2001 United Airlines has exploited the situation in many different ways, including the off-shoring and outsourcing of jobs. For example:
- In 2000, United had 20,000 more employees than 2011 yet its revenue in 2011 was $17 billion higher than in 2000.
- United has cut the number of pilots it employs in half since 2000.
- 66% of United’s domestic flights are currently outsourced to regional carriers.
- Following the merger, United executives were awarded over $59 million in compensation packages, including Jeff Smisek the highest compensated U.S. commercial airline CEO who received a $3.6 million bonus and former CEO Glenn Tilton, who received a $2.7 million bonus, while helping to oversee the reduction of United’s pilots by half.
- United has made a concerted effort to outsource its international routes and many of those jobs may potentially be off-shored to companies based in the Middle East.
- Members of Congress, consumer groups and government officials have raised concerns about the safety of passengers given that United’s Express partners do not require their pilots to go through rigorous training that larger carriers like United requires of their pilots, including the pilots involved in the 2009 accident in Buffalo that killed fifty people. “Training and fatigue” were listed as causal factors of those tragedies.
