United to Furlough 1,550 Flight Attendants

United Airlines will furlough 1,550 flight attendants as it reduces flights this fall. That is about 10 percent of its cabin workers and part of the airline’s effort to cut 7,000 jobs companywide by the end of 2009.

United has previously announced plans to cut as many as 1,600 managers and 5,500 front-line workers, and to furlough 950 pilots. United is also laying off 213 foreign national flight attendants based in Bangkok and Singapore.

Those workers, who are not part of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, are required to be dismissed before any union members can be furloughed, the union said. United, along with Northwest Airlines Corp., is one of the biggest U.S. carriers in Asia. Furloughed flight attendants keep their health insurance and flight privileges.