United Outsources 12 Airports

I'm often very excited about posting things about United, but today I'm feeling much more down.  United has been working hard to cut costs and return to the black.  Their solution is to cut costs by terminating the employment of their co-workers at 12 airports with mostly United Express service.  From what I understand, the current employees have jobs until September 30th, 2014.

The airports that will be outsourced:

• Detroit, MI
• Albuquerque, N.M.
• Buffalo, NY
• Charleston, S.C.
• Charlotte, N.C.
• Columbus, OH
• Des Moines, IA
• El Paso, TX
• Sioux Falls, S.D.
• Wichita, KS
• Pensacola, FL
• Salt Lake City, UT

Note: Items that are bolded are cities that I regularly travel to.  Italicized cities are destinations I am about to start traveling to.

With the termination of these employees, there is a bright side.  United will be bringing back about 400 at some of the United hubs.  So, the 600+ employees being terminated will have the opportunity to take one of the 400 jobs if they are willing to relocate.  

What pains me is that I have come to know people in these cities as I have traveled.  They are friends of mine.  They are the people who take care of me.  I will greatly miss them.  This is a major blow to United, and the Flyer Friendly brand promise.

To all of those who have put in many years being Flyer Friendly, thank you for your service.  To those of you in CLT, DSM, and PNS who have helped me personally.... Thank You.

But, hey, I'm just a guy who likes to look at airplanes, so what do I know?