US airlines adding jobs, extending rebound from October low
The Transportation Department said Tuesday, March 9, 2021, that the airline industry employed 713,949 people full-time or part-time in January. Cargo airlines have added jobs while passenger airlines have shed workers, mostly through incentives for workers to quit or take early retirement. The Transportation Department said Tuesday that 713,949 people held full-time or part-time jobs at airlines in mid-January, up from 694,638 in December and the low of 673,278 in October. American Airlines eliminated 8,700 jobs, or 8% of its workers, and Southwest shed more than 4,600 jobs, or 7.5%. FedEx's express-delivery division grew by about 24,000 jobs, or 9.8%, United Parcel Service added 183 jobs, or 2.9%, in its air-shipment business, and smaller cargo carriers such as Atlas Air also added jobs, according to the Transportation Department.
Online shopping surge delivers record revenue for UPS
(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)A surge in online shopping helped UPS post record revenue during the last three months of 2020, the company said Tuesday. Its biggest customer โ online shopping giant Amazon โ helped fuel growth. She expects pandemic-fueled online shopping habits to stick, even as more stores reopen. โEven my relatives, who are older, are shopping online. UPS said revenue rose 21% to $24.9 billion in the three months ending Dec. 31, a record for the company.
Airlines close books on rotten 2020 and so far, 2021 is grim
An American Airlines Boeing 777 is framed by utility wires as it prepares to land at Miami International Airport, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021, in Miami. And now a halting rollout of vaccines threatens to further delay a recovery in travel and the travel industry. On Thursday as airlines reported results, a new coronavirus variant identified in South Africa was found in the United States for the first time, with two cases diagnosed in South Carolina. โTravel restrictions on international have resulted in a reduction in demand,โ American Airlines CEO Doug Parker said. AdJETBLUE AIRWAYSJetBlue reported a loss of $381 million, after reporting a profit in the fourth quarter of 2019.
American Airlines lost $8.9 billion in a year of pandemic
The airline said Thursday that it lost $2.2 billion in the fourth quarter, with revenue plunging by nearly two-thirds from a year earlier. And the airline lost $8.9 billion for the full year after earning nearly $1.7 billion in 2019. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)FORT WORTH, Texas โ American Airlines lost $2.2 billion in the fourth quarter as people stayed put in the pandemic, sending the carrier's revenue plunging by nearly two-thirds from the same period a year ago. The results ended a dismal year in which American Airlines Group Inc. lost $8.9 billion after earning nearly $1.7 billion the year before. Quarterly revenue dropped more than 64%, to $4.03 billion in the fourth quarter, not quite as bad as Wall Street had expected.
FedEx to cut up to 6,300 jobs in Europe over next 18 months
FedEx plans to cut up to 6,300 jobs in Europe after its acquisition of TNT Express. FedEx said Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, that the cuts will take place over 18 months and include express-delivery operations and back-office employees of TNT across the continent. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)MEMPHIS, Tenn. โ FedEx plans to cut up to 6,300 jobs in Europe as it completes the process of combining its own operation with that of a Dutch delivery company it bought in 2016. FedEx plans to downgrade an air-service hub in Liege, Belgium, to make Paris its sole primary hub. FedEx said Tuesday that it has successfully integrated FedEx and TNT information-technology systems and key parts of the air and ground networks.
Boeing Max returns to US skies with first passenger flight from Florida
MIAMI โ American Airlines flew a Boeing 737 Max with paying passengers from Miami to New York on Tuesday, the planeโs first commercial flight in U.S. skies since it was grounded after two deadly crashes. Brazil's Gol airlines operated the first passenger flight with a revamped Max on Dec. 9. United Airlines plans to resume Max flights in February, and Southwest Airlines expects to follow in March. Reports by House and Senate committees faulted Boeing and the FAA for failures in the process of certifying the plane. Some relatives of people who died in the second crash, a Max operated by Ethiopian Airlines, contend that the plane is still unsafe.
Florida men charged with stealing ventilators headed to El Salvador
MIAMI โ Two Florida men are facing federal charges that allege they stole nearly 200 ventilators the United States was shipping to El Salvador to help the Central American country treat coronavirus patients. | Pilot killed in Fla. gyroscope crash]Court records do not indicate if the men have attorneys. Ventilators are used to treat coronavirus patients when they cannot breathe on their own. According to the U.S. government, El Salvador has been hard hit by the disease. The United States has done worse, however, with one coronavirus death per every 1,130 residents.
Demand for delivery boosts UPS revenue, but costs rise too
UPS, whose brown delivery trucks have become omnipresent on neighborhood streets during the pandemic, is reporting strong profits and revenue in its most recent quarter. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)ATLANTA โ Profit and revenue are rising at UPS, whose brown delivery trucks have become omnipresent on neighborhood streets during the pandemic, but so are costs. UPS shares fell 8.8%, their biggest one-day percentage drop in nearly six years. Unlike the domestic package business, profit rose in the company's international package and freight units. UPS shares have nearly doubled since May, reflecting the pickup in the delivery business.
$491,280 hidden in furniture seized at Miami airport
MIAMI Customs officers at a Florida airport found nearly a half-million dollars being smuggled out of the United States hidden inside furniture, officials said. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at Miami International Airport seized $491,280 in unreported U.S. currency last Thursday, the agency said in a news release. Officials didn't say who the money belonged to or whether criminal charges would be filed. Travelers bringing more than $10,000 out of the U.S. must report it to customs officials. Failing to do so can lead to the moneys seizure and forfeiture, as well as potential criminal charges, officials said.
Man who was on the run 5 years surrenders to FBI in Florida
MIAMI A fugitive who had been on the run for five years surrendered to the FBI when he arrived at Miami International Airport last week. The surrender was arranged by Cifuentes through Miami attorney Antonio Valiente, the Miami Herald reported. The FBI then took Cifuentes, 29, to jail, where he's being held on two counts of attempted premeditated murder and one count of discharging a firearm in public. When the police went looking for him four days later, he wasn't at his mother's house, his girlfriend's house or anywhere else he normally went. The FBI believed Cifuentes might have gone to New York, so federal charges were filed in June 2015, and an award of $10,000 was offered for information leading to his arrest and conviction, the agency said.