American lays off 100 at LV office

Friday, Dec. 7, 2001 | 11:10 a.m.

American Airlines has laid off more than 100 employees at its Las Vegas reservations office, saying it had to cut expenses systemwide after September's terrorist attacks.

They are among hundreds of aviation industry workers who remain off the job as the three-month anniversary of the attacks approaches.

A spokeswoman for American said 104 employees laid off in late September at the company's Las Vegas reservations office still haven't been called back to work.

"The company wants to recall them, but we just haven't been able to do this at this time," said Laura Mayo of the Fort Worth, Texas-based airline, the nation's largest.

American made its first disclosure this week of layoffs at the Las Vegas reservations center, one of 10 domestic call centers the company operates.

Prior to the attacks, American had about 400 employees at the center, which is open daily from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m., at the McCarran Center business park. In addition to the Las Vegas office, American has reservations centers in Dallas; Fort Worth; Honolulu; St. Louis; Cincinnati; Hartford, Conn.; Norfolk, Va.; Raleigh-Durham, N.C. and Tucson, Ariz. The company also has several international call centers in Europe, the Caribbean and South America.

Another company staggered by the terrorist attacks, Certified Airline Passenger Services of Henderson, remains closed -- but a spokesman said company executives at least got some good news in recent weeks.

Jim Gentleman said the company is still about a month away from re-opening its baggage transport business and remote airport check-in service.

CAPS was shut down by the Federal Aviation Administration because of increased security measures nationwide. Gentleman said CAPS "has made significant progress with the FAA" for an amendment to new security regulations that would enable the company to operate.

Gentleman said the company has been in touch with the 70 CAPS employees who were laid off. The company had about 80 before the attacks. Several employees have already taken new jobs, he said. In the meantime, CAPS' skeleton crew is making arrangements with airline and hotel partners to restart operations.

National Airlines, which laid off about 260 employees after the attacks, brought about a quarter of them back when the company announced new flights in October. In the company's reorganization plan, submitted to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Las Vegas this week, National said it hopes to restore all lost jobs by the middle of 2002.

At the end of October, National had 1,152 employees, including 993 full-time and 159 part-time workers. At that time, the company had 154 pilots, 284 flight attendants, 228 customer service representatives, 58 technicians, 78 ground operations personnel, 45 National Airlines Vacations employees and 305 management and other personnel.

Another major Las Vegas travel company, Lowestfare.com, laid off 460 employees -- about half its work force -- after the terrorist attacks.