United Airlines to slash fleet, jobs amid soaring fuel prices

United Airlines on Wednesday said it was cutting fleet and operations and eliminating up to 1,100 additional jobs to compete amid soaring fuel prices and a weakening US economy.
United, a unit of UAL Corporation, said it would reduce its mainline domestic capacity by 17 percent to 18 percent over the 2008 and 2009 period and remove 100 aircraft from its mainline fleet.
The company said domestic capacity in the fourth quarter would be reduced by 14 percent from the same period in 2007.
As part of its plan to reduce the size of its operations, United expects to reduce the number of salaried and management employees and contractors by 1,400 to 1,600 by the end of the year. The work force reduction includes a previously announced reduction of 500 employees.