United Airlines will eliminate at least 1,000 salaried and management jobs by the end of the year as part of its efforts to reduce costs, Glenn F. Tilton, the chief executive, said yesterday.þþThe employees to be laid off represent about 11 percent of the airline's 9,400 salaried workers and nearly 2 percent of its work force of approximately 57,000.þþUnited, a unit of the UAL Corporation, said last month that its costs were too high, even after the completion early this year of three years of bankruptcy court protection. The airline set a target of $400 million in additional cost reductions but had not cited the number of salaried and management jobs it planned to cut.þþMr. Tilton told analysts in New York that the job cuts were part of a $100 million reduction of general and administrative overhead expenses. In addition, he said, the company is reducing purchased services by $200 million and cutting advertising and marketing costs by $60 million, among other moves.þþÿWe're going to reduce our costs further, we're going to take full advantage of the network that we have preserved to optimize our revenue, and we are going to deliver to our customers a consistently superior and consistently improving customer experience,ÿ Mr. Tilton said at the Merrill Lynch Global Transportation Conference.þþShares of UAL, which had lost a third of their value since they began trading in February, rose 78 cents yesterday, or 2.9 percent, to $27.81.þþIn other airline news yesterday, pilots at Northwest Airlines ousted their union chief, Mark McClain, after he led them through tough negotiations that resulted in steep pay cuts and major concessions.þþThe union's Master Executive Council elected Mr. McClain as chairman in 1999. That same council voted 6-5 with one abstention to remove him on Tuesday, the union said. It was the same day that a bankruptcy judge in New York approved the pilots' new five-and-a-half-year contract.þþMr. McClain, a 757 captain, had survived another recall attempt in April. He was re-elected as chairman as recently as October. He did not return a phone message left yesterday.þþAnd in other airline news, some of the top executives at US Airways have exercised stock options and sold shares for large gains this week. They are the first stock sales by the executives since America West bought US Airways last fall and took the name US Airways Group.þþInsiders were prohibited from selling in the first six months after the merger. In that period, the company's stock more than doubled. It closed at $42.49 yesterday, up 94 cents.þþScott Kirby, the airline's executive vice president for sales and marketing, sold 115,500 shares on Monday at $46 a share, according to securities filings. He exercised options for most of the shares, at prices ranging from $6.42 to $29.09, for a pretax gain of more than $4 million.þþJeffrey D. McClelland, the chief administrative officer, sold 63,251 shares at $46.08, all acquired through option exercises. His pretax profit was $2.2 million.þþJim Walsh, the airline's general counsel, sold 47,437 shares at $46.08 after exercising options. His pretax gain was $1.53 million.þþDerek J. Kerr, the chief financial officer, sold 34,924 shares at about $47, the bulk by exercising options. His pretax profit from the trades was $1.1 million.þþThe airline said in a statement that the executives sold to diversify their assets.þþ
Source: NY Times
