Even as American Airlines added routes out of Philadelphia airport, it is furloughing 1,000 Philadelphia workers in April as forecasts show reduced flights this summer, writes Erik Siemers and Ryan Sharrow for Philadelphia Business Journal.

The temporary furloughs start April 10 involving 1,032 employees based at Philadelphia International Airport.

A notice to Pennsylvania through a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification said 28 other employees in Philadelphia will be permanently laid off starting April 1.

American is the airport’s largest carrier, handling 70 percent of passenger traffic.

The Philadelphia furloughs are part of a companywide plan to furlough 13,000 employees this spring, part of an effort to cope with reduced air traffic from COVID-19.

“As we closed out last year with the successful extension of the Payroll Support Program (PSP), we fully believed that we would be looking at a summer schedule where we’d fly all of our airplanes and need the full strength of our team,” CEO Doug Parker and President Robert Isom said in a letter to employees. “Regrettably, that is no longer the case.”

A voluntary early out program and a long-term voluntary leave of absence program is also being created.

Read more about American Airlines at Philadelphia Business Journal.