United Airlines is to cut jobs and planes in order to offset fuel costs.

In light of recent increases in oil prices and a “softening [US] economy”, United Airlines has announced that it is to cut its number of planes by 100 and reduce its staff by between 900 and 1,100, plus the 500 job cuts already announced.

The worldwide airline company has stated that the cuts will enable it to build a stronger, more competitive business that is ‘better able to withstand’ the current economic climate.

United Airlines has calculated that the current fuel prices create a $3 billion “challenge”, yet it is predicted that the changes to fleet and staff numbers would offset this challenge by 2009.

Glenn Tilton, Chairman, President and CEO of United Airlines, commented: “Today we are taking additional, aggressive steps that demonstrate our commitment to size our business appropriately to reflect the current market reality, leverage capacity discipline to pass commodity costs on to customers, develop new revenue streams and continue to reduce non-fuel costs and capital expenditures.

“This environment demands that we and the industry act decisively and responsibly. At United, we continue to do the right work to reduce costs and increase revenue to respond to record fuel costs and the challenging economic environment.”

United Airlines serves 119 destinations in 26 countries and two territories, and was established 75 years ago.