American Airlines to furlough up to 19,000 staff

American Airlines will furlough up to 19,000 employees on October 1, the airline said in a memo to staff on Tuesday, unless Congress extends the CARES Act’s payroll support program. “Today is the hardest message we have had to share so far – the announcement of involuntary staffing reductions effective October 1,” chief executive Doug Parker and airline president Robert Isom wrote in a memo to employees, which was attached to an SEC announcement related to the move.  In the memo Parker and Isom said that the CARES package had been set-up in the expectation that COVID 19 would be