United Airlines said Wednesday that further job cuts will be necessary as it continues slashing costs in order to get out of bankruptcy.
The No. 2 U.S. airline declined to confirm or deny a published report that it is considering eliminating 6,000 jobs, about 10 percent of its work force, saying its business plan remains under revision and no final decisions have been made.
United spokeswoman Jean Medina said the carrier is in "productive" discussions with its board of directors, creditors committee, labor leaders and other key stakeholders, and said job cuts will be part of the overhauled business plan.
"We've said consistently we're moving forward on a wide range of cost-reduction initiatives and we've set some initial cost-saving targets in a number of areas," she said.
"It is clear that achieving cost competitiveness will require additional job reductions over time. But the details of how we achieve the savings we need and the potential impact on our work force are still under discussion, so it would be premature for me to comment on specifics," Medina said.
The Financial Times of London, citing unidentified sources, said the possible 6,000 job cuts would be phased in over time as part of productivity changes and further outsourcing. The report said CEO Glenn Tilton is to submit the revised business plan to the board by the end of this month.
United has about 62,000 employees, down from 100,000 before the 2001 terrorist attacks.