U.S. airlines - burned last year by trimming their staffs due to the pandemic and then finding themselves unprepared when travel rebounded - are pulling out all the stops to get back to proper staffing levels ahead of what is expected to be a huge summer travel season.
Buoyed perhaps by using the proverbial carrot at the end of the stick during the holidays, when airlines offered bonus pay and extra overtime to work Thanksgiving through New Year's, airlines are again offering potential workers big incentives.
According to a piece in the Detroit News, United Airlines is offering Chicago-based positions in various departments up to a $10,000 signing bonus to join the carrier.
Also in Chicago, Southwest bumped starting salary up to $18 an hour beginning today, March 1.
With COVID cases dwindling throughout the world, airlines will be under scrutiny to have their staffing situation in order before summer begins in just three short months.
If not, it could be a repeat of last year, when several airlines suffered numerous delays and cancellations.
"With the 'Great Resignation' taking place and hitting all companies and industries, airlines are certainly not unusual in this," Henry Harteveldt, travel industry analyst and president of the Atmosphere Research Group, told the paper. "But the challenge is that many airline jobs don't offer you the ability to work from home."
United is offering incentives in its Chicago, Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Denver markets, spokesman David Gonzalez said.
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