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(Journalist)
– United Airlines on Thursday announced plans to hire around 300 pilots, another sign airlines are more confident that a recent increase in travel will continue. The airline plans to start by hiring pilots who received conditional job offers or canceled a class for new hires last year, the AP reports, when the industry was criticized by the pandemic of coronavirus. “With the increase in vaccination rates and the increasing trend in travel demand, I am delighted to announce that United will resume the pilot recruitment process which was interrupted last year,” employees told employees Bryan Quigley, senior vice president of flight operations for United, based in Chicago.
Nearly 1,000 United pilots have retired or taken voluntary leave since September. Federal aid to the airline payroll has blocked the holidays. Quigley said United’s need for new pilots will depend on the airline’s recovery from the pandemic. Airlines report that bookings have increased in recent weeks, and the government says at least 1 million travelers a day have passed through airport checkpoints in the past three weeks. Still, air travel to the United States remains down almost half from the same period in 2019. United CEO Scott Kirby said this week that demand for domestic leisure travel “is growing.” was almost fully recovered “but critical business and international travel remained severely depressed.
(Read more stories about the travel industry.)
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