OUTSOURCING IS WAGE THEFT
Airport support contractor to cut 177 workers at SFO in latest mass layoff



Prospect International Airport Services Corp. indicated in a recent filing that it plans to cease operations at SFO effective December 31.

By Alex Barreira – Staff Reporter, San Francisco Business Times
Oct 8, 2021, 

A contractor of airport support staff has become the latest company to initiate a mass layoff of workers supporting San Francisco International Airport (SFO), according to filings with the state employment authority.

Prospect International Airport Services Corp., headquartered in Des Plaines, Ill., indicated in a recent filing made public this week it plans to cease operations at SFO effective December 31, laying off 177 workers including passenger service agents, aircraft security guards, and related management. In recent weeks several large catering operations serving SFO have conducted mass layoffs citing lower-than-anticipated travel demand and exhaustion of federal funding, but Prospect did not provide an explanation for its move.

It’s unclear if similar plans are in store for Prospect’s lone remaining operation in California at Oakland International Airport, where it began staffing support operations in fall 2019, per its website. Prospect was not immediately available for comment but I’ll update this story if I hear back.

The company was founded in 1966 by Robert Strobel and maintains operations in 22 states.

The vast majority of the employees given notice at SFO are passenger service agents. Prospect intends to work with the airlines and successor contractors to find other airport jobs for “as many of our employees as possible” who are impacted.

In describing its mass layoffs of airport food preparation workers, Gate Gourmet told me in a statement last week, "The sheer number of flights is still greatly reduced, particularly to (the Asian-Pacific region). Unfortunately, this directly impacts our operations at SFO."

The leading carrier at SFO, United Airlines (Nasdaq: UAL), said Thursday it will fly more than 3,500 daily domestic flights in December — about 91% of its December 2019 schedule, in anticipation of a surge in holiday travel. United is bullish on European travel's recovery next spring and summer, but is not expecting its schedule to Asia to return to pre-pandemic normal anytime soon.