American Airlines is shuffling its customer service division in a move affecting hundreds of jobs.
Most of the Fort Worth, Texas-based airline's customer service employees work from home with their employment tied to offices in Texas and Arizona, a spokesperson for American Airlines told CoStar News.
The airline is laying off 656 of its customer service workers, including 321 at its headquarters office in Fort Worth and 335 at 1921 W. Rio Salado Parkway in Tempe, Arizona.
"We will transition some of our lighter touch contact center inquiries to our international teams made up of American Airlines and partner support, which will give our customers 24/7 assistance, no matter when they reach out to us," the American Airlines spokesperson said in a statement to CoStar News.
In turn, the airline is launching a "customer success team" to help deal with the complex travel needs of its customers.
The cuts are not expected to affect American Airlines' office footprint housing its customer service employees. The workers whose jobs are eliminated will have the first choice of joining the "customer success" team in the next couple of weeks. The team members will be housed in Arizona and Texas.
American Airlines estimates there are more than 800 roles that employees who are being laid off can apply for at the company. Those not finding employment will be eligible for severance. Affected workers are expected to remain employed with American Airlines through March 30.
Last week, executives at the airline told investors it had finalized a new contract for customer service employees. American Airlines plans to focus on delivering a reliable service as it re-engineers its business to ensure it is running efficiently while trying to give customers a more pleasant experience, executives said during the earnings call.