Just watch. Now Congress will act. American Airlines, UAL to Cut 32,000 Jobs

“We implore our elected leaders to reach a compromise, get a deal done now, and save jobs,” United said Wednesday night. The airline said over 13,400 employees will be out of a job starting Thursday.

American, which has planned deeper cuts than any other carrier, also told Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that it will bring its 19,000 workers back if lawmakers can approve more aid in the next few days, Chief Executive Doug Parker told employees in a letter. Airlines considered postponing their cuts—something Mr. Mnuchin urged them to do earlier Wednesday.

But Mr. Parker said too much uncertainty remained.

“I am extremely sorry we have reached this outcome. It is not what you deserve,” he wrote to employees.

That aid was meant to help airlines manage through what they hoped would be a temporary crisis without resorting to mass layoffs. While air-travel demand has climbed from the depths it reached in April, it remains nearly 70% lower than a year ago. Analysts forecast that U.S. airlines will lose $30 billion this year, according to FactSet data.

So while tens of thousands of workers opted to retire early or took buyouts as airlines scrambled to cut spending, most have been able to stay in their jobs until now.

Airlines and their labor unions have lobbied aggressively for another $25 billion to pay workers for another six months, and continued the push into the final hours of negotiations on Wednesday.

While Republicans and Democrats both supported aid to airlines and several other items under consideration, they have remained split on other issues and have been unable to come to terms on how much to spend overall.

Mr. Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) renewed their stalled negotiations this week, though they failed to reach an agreement Wednesday afternoon. Still, Democrats and the White House continued to seek common ground. The House of Representatives opted to delay a vote on a $2.2 trillion coronavirus-aid package, which Democratic aides said would allow the two sides to keep talking. As it stands now, the legislation has no chance of passing in the Senate.

Labor unions, whose members have picketed and inundated lawmakers with letters and tweets, also said they plan to continue ratcheting up their efforts.

American and United account for the bulk of the job cuts scheduled for this week, though a few other carriers have planned smaller reductions. Allegiant Air said it remained optimistic and decided to hold off on the 275 job cuts it had planned. Hawaiian Airlines said it would go ahead with its furloughs.

Several airlines have whittled down the number of jobs they plan to cut, offering buyout and early-retirement offers and striking deals with unions to cut costs. Some, including Southwest Airlines Co., aren’t planning any furloughs at all this week, though they have warned they might not be able to avoid them indefinitely without aid.

For workers, the last-minute wrangling has added to months of uncertainty about their futures. “I’m scared,” said Leo Valladares, a flight attendant set to be furloughed this week. The coronavirus outbreak in Asia was barely on his radar when he began training in February after two years with a smaller carrier. Now he is faced with spending his savings as he looks for work.

“I thought it was going to be a steady job,” he said.

Write to Alison Sider at alison.sider@wsj.com