United cuts capacity, revenue forecasts

The recovery from the global crisis continues to elude the airlines industry. United Airlines warned Wednesday that its passenger revenue will likely fall more than it had expected for the third quarter, forecasting a drop of 85%.

It’s also looking to cancel more flights - despite a moderate comeback in bookings for leisure travel in the U.S., Latin America and the Caribbean. The U.S.’s third largest airline sees its quarterly capacity decreasing about 70% year-over-year.

The announcement comes a little more than a week after United, Delta and American permanently eliminated change fees on tickets for domestic travel in a bid to boost bookings.

And deep job cuts are coming. United plans to furlough more than 16,000 workers when federal aid expires on the first of October, and American said it would lay off 19,000 workers without that aid. Delta plans to lay off nearly 2,000 pilots. Airline union leaders will meet with senior congressional Democrats Wednesday to discuss a second round of aid to protect those jobs.

Shares of the big three airlines fell in early trading Wednesday even as the markets bounced back from a three-day sell-off.