American Airlines Sending 13,000 Furlough Warnings as Pandemic Pain Continues

American Airlines is telling about 13,000 employees that they are at risk of furlough when a U.S. aid package for airline workers expires on April 1, the company said on Wednesday.

Fort Worth, Texas-based American furloughed 19,000 workers when a previous round of government payroll support ended on Oct. 1 but recalled them in December after a fresh $15 billion for the industry through March.

The company had hoped that pandemic-hit demand would rebound by then.

However, slow rollouts of vaccines and the emergence of coronavirus variants are delaying the recovery, fueling a push by aviation unions for another $15 billion in U.S. payroll assistance.