US airlines, grappling with a dramatic industry downturn, have warned that tens of thousands of jobs are on the line in October when a US government bailout runs out.

To minimise the number of forced cuts, large airlines have been offering a variety of early departure packages.

United’s agreement with the Air Line Pilots Association International (Alpa) includes an early retirement deal for pilots 62 and older, as well as a slew of different options for pilots to voluntarily reduce their hours or take a leave of absence during which they would potentially receive health benefits as long as they keep up their training, covered by United.

Bryan Quigley, United’s senior vice-president of flight operations, sent the terms to pilots in a memo late Thursday which was reviewed by Reuters.

Alpa Chairman Todd Insler said the deal had “groundbreaking provisions that provide the option (for pilots) to remain qualified, allowing a faster recall once passenger demand returns”.

Airlines are generally reluctant to furlough pilots because of the timely and costly training involved in bringing them back. If a Covid-19 vaccine is developed and demand returns, airlines want to be able to respond quickly.

Airlines had hoped for a recovery before US$32 billion in government payroll grants for the aviation industry expire in September. Now unions are lobbying lawmakers to provide another US$32 billion through March to prevent tens of thousands of furloughs.

Chicago-based United said last week it was sending notices of potential furloughs to 36,000 US-based front-line employees, or about 45% of staff, including 2,250 pilots.