MSN Air Service is now hiring!
Come work at JFK Airport
Here are some of our immediately
available positions:
• Customer Service Agent
• Warehouse Agent
• Ramp Agent
• Push Back Driver
• Main/Lower Deck Loader Operator
Experience at JFK a Plus.
Overnight shift attracts a $1/hr. night premium.
Walk into Building 86 Cargo Area C to fill out an application.
Please bring resume, ID, and all supporting documents.
16 AIRPORT VOICE, OCTOBER 2020
Working through woes
Overview of positivity
BY JEFF YAPALATER
Continue from page 1
American Airlines has
been highly visible in the media
asking repeatedly for aid
from Congress ahead of the October
1 deadline in which the
original funding of CARES 1
expired. Airline management
met with the White House
staff, and member of the Senate
to detail the economic devastation
that would occur if
Congress did not pass another
round of assistance . As of October 13,
nothing has changed.
It has been rumored that a $25 billion
package was imminent but the October
1 deadline came and went, and so
did the immediate furlough of employees
caught in the political nightmare.
The PANYNJ also had requested
that Congress pass a measure that
would include a $3 billion package to
help the Port Authority deal with this
anticipated shortfall over the next two
years due to the drastic reduction of
use of airport and public transportation
revenue.
In the meanwhile, Port is aggressively
working with the airport stakeholders
in creating a safe and confident
journey by travelers. It is working
with the terminals, airlines, business
partners and stakeholders with increased
sanitizing cleaning, mandatory
mask wearing, social distancing,
touchless transaction systems,
installation of acrylic barriers between
travelers and airline gateways,
TSA Plexiglas shielding, and signage
throughout to keep passengers aware
of the safety measures against the
spread of Covid.
In addition to the lack of funding,
domestic and international airlines
are still feeling the effects of the original
travel restrictions from the beginning
of the pandemic. International
flights have been severely limited due
to both U.S. and foreign country individual
restrictions including the issue
of 14- day quarantine.
NYS Governor Cuomo added a domestic
component by requiring travelers
from high risk states to fill our
a health form at NYS airports, and to
enter voluntary quarantine if they had
contact with a positive carrier.
Both these travel restrictions have
raised the ire of airlines and related
companies who see this as an impediment
to the increase of flights which
are the lowest in decades. Typically
there are 1200-1400 flights daily from
JFK. With this volume so low, it is
hard for any company to maintain
current staffing, so there are hiring
freezes, budget cuts and a sense of fear
among workers as to the future of their
employment.
The ripple effect will be borne by
a number of the over 10 million workers
who jobs rely on commercial aviation
that include security, airline
food services, hotels, transportation,
cargo handlers, construction, tourism,
cleaning, travel companies, and
small business that serve airports and
travelers.
Despite these obstacles, there is an
incremental increase in number of
passengers, the airport restaurants
are now slowly opening with limited
indoor searing, and more international
airlines are beginning to use
JFK and EWR ( Newark).
Each day there is an uptick in resumption
of services at the airport
with stakeholders working harder to
implement safer conditions with the
Port working closely with all its business
partners to communicate and
share best practices, and increased
confidence of flying the to the general
public..
To add confidence and standardization
of proof of health, both Terminal
4 and Terminal One have Covid testing
facilities. Here airport workers,
passengers and some local residents
can come for either a rapid ,PCR Covid
and other tests. Some of the tests will
be used as proof of health by international
travelers returning home, and
other will have the peace of mind that
they are negative and can go about
their lives without fear of spreading
the disease.
Improvements are implemented
daily with new lost baggage handling
systems, a new TSA baggage scanning
device for faster security throughput,
the pilot program of Jetweels wheelchair
speeding disabled passenger
through checkpoints, a new Amex
Lounge for business travelers, enhanced
UV sanitizations of checked
baggage at T1, temperature checks at
many cargo facilities, with Newark
and LaGuardia construction underway
and JFK redevelopment plans
tweaked and revisited in hopes of
early 2021 ground breaking.
So while there are lots of woes experienced
by our community, there is a
lot of optimism, and daily positivity in
the face of Covid. All stakeholders are
working individual and collectively
to produce a unified message of safety
and security to the travelling public
all the while waiting for government
funding and increased appetite for flying
by the public.
Allen Airlines Jun Shen, Joe S. T. Wong sign LOA for cargo and passenger flights in early 2021
with JFK TOGA's Exec.Dir. OPS Steve Rowland, IT Mgr.Felix Fan.