Frontier Airlines to furlough 245 employees at McCarran airport

Frontier Airlines is set to furlough 245 employees based out of McCarran International Airport this fall.

The airline alerted Clark County Commission Chairwoman Marilyn Kirkpatrick and Wesley Reed, rapid response coordinator for the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, via a July 31 letter, giving at least 60 days notice as required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act.

“We anticipate that the affected union members will be furloughed with recall rights but the furloughs are expected to be permanent or last in excess of 6 months,” said Steven Schuller, Frontier vice president of human resources, in the letter.

The furloughs will impact pilots and flight attendants and are expected to begin as soon as Oct. 1, according to Schuller.

Frontier was the fifth busiest airline at McCarran in 2019, seeing 3.2 million passengers, up 35 percent from its 2018 total.

Through June, Frontier has experienced a 27 percent decline in passengers, going from 1.3 million passengers through the first six months of 2019, to 925,365 during the same stretch in 2020.

In June Frontier’s passenger volume was down 74 percent year-over-year, with 63,440 passengers, a stark decline from 247,733 in June 2019.

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.