United Airlines to Move Unit to Suburbs, Reduce Headcount at Willis Tower
United Airlines Holdings plans to move the network operations center that coordinates its flights globally to suburban Arlington Heights next April, slashing headcount at Equity Office’s Willis Tower, its world headquarters, Bloomberg News reported. The airline closed Wednesday on its acquisition of the suburban facility, which had played a supporting role by providing socially distant workstations throughout the pandemic.
The move was announced internally on Thursday and would affect about 900 employees such as managers and technical support staff, United said. About 400 flight dispatchers could eventually join them.
Another 2,500 headquarters staff will continue to be based at Willis Tower. That’s “roughly the same number of employees we had in the city 10 years ago,” a company spokesman told Bloomberg. “In terms of whether United is considering moving its headquarters out of downtown, the answer is no. We remain committed to the city of Chicago.”
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