United Extends Freeze On Airport Outsourcing

United Airlines will not outsource more jobs in baggage handling or customer service until at least 2019 and will start "expedited" contract talks for nearly 30,000 workers.

The news marks the latest effort by United and new chief executive Oscar Munoz to build morale after years of strained relations with some work groups.

Munoz suffered a heart attack about three weeks ago but plans to return to United in early 2016.

United is extending a moratorium, issued a week ago, on job cuts to 2019 from 2017. Some 1,150 cuts were announced in February.

A freeze on outsourcing was "the single biggest issue" union members had voiced, according to an online bulletin on Friday from the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

The union agreed to early contract talks with the company because it believed "workers should share fairly in the carrier's record profits," at USD$1.7 billion last quarter on an adjusted basis.

If a deal is reached, United would further push back the freeze on airport outsourcing to at least a year after the date the new contract can be amended, the union said.