Hawaiian Airlines’ pre-pandemic payroll will be cut by one-third, or 2,501 jobs, as of the start of next month.
By Oct. 1 the projected workforce at the state’s largest carrier will be 4,946, down from 7,447 employees, the company said Thursday.
The reduction includes 1,850 union employees who volunteered to leave the company and 466 involuntary union cuts. These include flight attendants, pilots, machinists, reservation agents, dispatchers and other office workers.
In addition, Hawaiian cut 185 nonunion administrative positions, mostly by not filling vacancies and through voluntary separations.
Prior to COVID-19, Hawaiian was one of the state’s largest employers and was enjoying a long growth period. From 2005 to March it had gone from about 3,500 to 7,500 employees, about 90% of whom were working in Hawaii.
Hawaiian spokesman Alex Da Silva said in an email to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that the layoffs effective Oct. 1 were based on Hawaii’s tourism reopening in August or September.
With tourism not set to reopen until Oct. 15, the situation for Hawaiian has changed.
Though the carrier has not made further plans for reductions, Da Silva said it views “the outlook for Hawaii tourism as having worsened with the further delay of the pre-travel testing program.”
The pre-travel testing program allows travelers who have tested negative for COVID-19 within 72 hours of traveling to Hawaii to bypass a mandatory 14-day self-quarantine for out-of-state passengers that’s been in place since March 26th.
