Airline woes could hurt Queens Economy

Higher fuel costs, widespread flight delays and capacity reductions are leading a number of major airlines to make drastic staff cuts that could have a devastating impact on the economy in the borough.
Queens, which is home to LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airports, has seen recent positive economic bumps from the two airports, but those trends could flip quickly.
“Queens relies very heavily on the economic activity at the airports,” said Queens Assemblymember Michael Gianaris. “If these aren’t being run efficiently, Queens will suffer.”
During the past two weeks, Continental Airlines recently announced its plans to cut 3,000 positions - some voluntary and some involuntary - with most of the cuts expected to start after the summer season.
United Airlines, the second largest airline in the country, recently announced that it would slash 1,100 more jobs while American Airlines said that it would cut down on its domestic flights by nearly 12 percent at the end of summer.
“Sky-high fuel prices and costly flight delays are forcing airlines to cut capacity and jobs, both here in Queens and around the country,” said Queens Congressmember Carolyn Maloney. “Unfortunately, airlines aren’t the only employers forced to cut back in this economy: the unemployment rate surged to 5.5 percent last month - that’s the biggest one-month jump in 22 years.”
In addition to job cuts and flight cancellations, a recent report produced by the federal Joint Economic Committee (JEC) examined 10 million flight records from 2007 and found that delays cost the U.S. economy nearly $41 billion.
“The less efficient the airports are, the worse it is for the people that work in the airline industry,” Gianaris said.
Maloney said that Congress was working on a package this week that would extend unemployment benefits to laid-off airline workers and others struggling to find work in this difficult job market.
“The Democratic leadership has demonstrated its commitment to helping families make ends meet in these tough economic times by extending vital tax relief to millions,” Maloney said.
The drastic cuts come just a few months after the federal Bureau of Labor statistics, reported that the average wage for Queens workers grew by 12.7 percent between June 2006 and June 2007 dwarfing the increase in Manhattan and the other boroughs and was largely attributed to the two airports.
The 12.7 increase, which put the average weekly wage at $886, was the second largest increase for a county in the United States - trailing only Clayton County in GA, which is near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.