CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cleveland Hopkins International Airport was once a hub for United Airlines. This past week, the company announced it plans to lay off as many as 450 employees in Cleveland and even more nationwide.

What You Need To Know


  • United Airlines announced they will lay off as many as 36,000 employees nationwide this fall

  • At Cleveland Hopkins, 450 employees will be laid off

  • Layoffs will begin on October 1 since employees are protected under the CARES Act until September 31

  • United Airlines said they are hopeful the layoffs are temporary

United Airlines wrote a notice letter to the state of Ohio which states, in part, “The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on travel demand and on our business. Governmental restrictions on travel, stay-at-home orders, and the lack of a medical solution for the virus brought bookings and demand for travel to a near standstill. And while demand has moved slightly upward from its April low, of down 95%, we have lost billions of dollars over this three-month period and are still spending far more than we are taking in. “

The airline said the payroll support program under the CARES Act helped protect jobs through September 30, but layoffs will begin October 1.

“To me, as an economist, that the recovery for this recession is going to be much longer than we were hoping for,” said Economist Roman Sheremeta. He said the impact on airlines will cause job loss in other industries as well.

"What I'm worried most about is about externalities — that's the ripple effect. Because people not traveling, hotels are not going to be filled out, restaurants are not going to be booked, and so on and so forth. And so the car rentals are not going to work. And that creates a lot of negative externalities, which leads ultimately to the job loss.”

United Airlines reported more than 36,000 employees nationwide could be laid off this fall.

“I don't see that as any indication that United lost interest in Cleveland. So, I don't see that as a Cleveland-specific thing. We look at that nationwide, and in fact I think that the layoffs in Cleveland are going to be proportionally probably even lower than layoffs in other parts of the country,” said Sheremeta.

He believes it will take two to three years for the airline industry to recover, but he remains hopeful that the economy will bounce back.

“I would just want for people to understand that, yes, we're going to have to go through these hurdles, but we will recover and in many ways, in some ways, we will be stronger than before.”

In that letter to the state, United stated that they are hopeful that these layoffs will be temporary. But they also wrote that they believe that demand for air travel won't go back to normal, until we have a vaccine for covid-19.