UPS May Furlough 300 Pilots

UPS is in talks with its pilots’ union over the possible furlough of some 300 pilots from the company’s airline operation.

A company spokesman confirmed UPS asked the International Pilots Association this month for ways to cut costs to avoid cutting the pilot work force by some 10 percent across UPS’s worldwide flight business.

The company scaled back its airline network as demand in the parcel and express business has declined at a steep rate in the past six months. UPS’s net profit fell 55.7 percent in the first quarter to its lowest level since 1998 and the airline business, based at the express hub in Louisville, Ky., is accelerating the retirement of older aircraft as the company reduces flights.

“Obviously because we are flying less we have more pilots than we need,” said UPS Airlines spokesman Mike Mangeot. “Our analysis shows that number is 300 (excess pilots).

“We went to the IPA and told them, ‘Furloughs are really not in the UPS culture so can you help us come up with alternatives?’” Mangeot said there is no “locked in” date for possible cuts, and he would not comment on whether salary cuts for the company’s 3,000 unionized pilots are among the alternatives under consideration. “We want to give due consideration to all options before we do anything,” he said.

UPS already is cutting back one of the world’s largest airline freighter fleets by speeding up the retirement of older DC-8 aircraft. The carrier had been keeping those planes on hand to handle packages for DHL, but talks with DHL on a possible linehaul agreement ended this month and UPS now expects to have the last of the DC-8s parked by the end of May.