Aviation Buzz

This coming Christmas, the airline industry will be flying 60 million seats lighter than Christmas of last year, in an attempt to cut capacity and costs, and raise ticket prices. Some airports, such as California bay-area’s Oakland International, will lose approximately 25% of their current service. Regional airports have suffered the most, with some losing 50% or all of their service in the coming months. However it’s no surprise to see regional airports losing service, but why Oakland?

Oakland is the notorious spot for low-cost carriers such as Southwest Airlines, JetBlue Airways, and the former carriers SkyBus, ATA and Aloha.  On top of the three bankrupt carriers, Continental Airlines (Houston), American Airlines (Dallas F/W) and TACA (San Salvador) will be pulling out from Oakland by early September. Other carriers, such as US Airways, will be pulling out one destination (Las Vegas) since they are closing Las Vegas as a hub. Southwest Airlines does not have plans to start any new routes but will end service to Tucson, AZ (TUS will lose 13%). Southwest accounts for nearly 60% of all operations in-and-out of Oakland. A few airlines will switch from year-round service to seasonal service. 

With that said, Oakland is taking a beating. As a medium sized international airport, it’s a bit shocking to see so many cuts. Across the bay, San Francisco International will be gaining 6% capacity, primarily due to Southwest Airlines’ growing presence at the airport. They are one of the few airports that will gain service / capacity.

The story I want to come back to is the staff at Oakland International. The Port of Oakland have announced that they will be cutting 1/6 of the current jobs, 100 out of 600. 62 Members will be receiving layoff notices by August 15th, then other cuts will become effective in the near future after that. All vacant positions at the airport will be removed/ filled. 

What does this mean for other airports experiencing capacity cuts? Airport employees, that are employed by the owner of the airport, should expect job cuts. Airline ramp agents, although employed by an airline (not the city / owner of the airport in most cases), are losing their jobs and others should look out too. It’s no doubt that more and more aviation specialists, both in the air and on the ground, will suffer layoffs in the coming months / year.

Image: flickr.com