United Airlines has announced that it intends to hire 2,000 flight attendants as it increases the numbers of international flights and as domestic jets fly longer-range routes. The new staffing is largely an exception in an industry that has slashed thousands of jobs since 2001. The Association of Flight Attendants says that starting salaries for the new hires will be thousands of dollars lower than previous salaries, before the company went into bankruptcy. United disagrees.
See "United to Hire 2, 000 Flight Attendants", Reuters, The New York Times, November 10, 2005