Continental to Cut 500 Jobs in Merger With United
Continental Airlines will eliminate 500 jobs in Houston as it combines with United Airlines and moves its headquarters from the Texas city to Chicago.
The number represents almost 17 percent of the estimated 3,000 management and administrative employees in Houston. The workers will lose their jobs between April 1 and June 30, the airline said in a notice filed with the state of Texas.
Continental and United agreed before their merger last year to locate the combined company’s headquarters in Chicago. The new parent company, United Continental Holdings Inc., now is determining the number of workers it needs to retain for Houston management functions, said Julie King, a spokeswoman.
“We’re going through a careful process of trying to determine the right organizational structure and location for each department,” King said in an interview.
The job cuts don’t involve pilots, flight attendants, mechanics or other airport workers, she said. The parent company has a combined workforce of about 80,000, and has never said how many jobs might be eliminated as the airlines merge operations.
United Continental’s largest hub will be at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, and it will maintain several finance positions as well as its reservations and customer-care departments in the city, King said.
Workers who lose their jobs will have access to outplacement services, severance and, for a limited time, subsidized health benefits and travel-pass privileges.
To contact the reporter on this story: Mary Schlangenstein in Dallas at maryc.s@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Ed Dufner at edufner@bloomberg.net
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