US Airways Group Inc. confirmed Friday that it plans to add at least 200 employees as part of a second wave of hiring for its Winston-Salem reservations center.
The airline also said the starting pay would be $9.96 an hour — the same rate it offered to employees hired in the first wave, which began in April.
On Thursday, the airline said it is adding 500 jobs between its Winston-Salem and Phoenix reservations centers.
US Airways has outsourced the latest hiring initiative to PeopleScout of Chicago, but the company also is accepting applications online.
In April, the airline said it was bringing as many as 200 jobs to the Hanes Mall Boulevard reservation center — as well as jobs in Phoenix and Reno, Nev. — as part of the airline's collective-bargaining agreement with its unions.
The union contract required the airline to return all reservation sales and service calls originating in the United States to domestic call centers by October. The Winston-Salem center operates around the clock, primarily handling specialty domestic calls.
It is not certain what the current workforce is at the Hanes Mall reservations center. The airline said in December that it had 757 jobs overall there, including union and nonunion employees.
Amber Sanders, an airline spokeswoman, said Friday that the airline is close to hiring the initial 200 employees for its expansion plan.
"The process of interviewing for the next round of jobs has begun," Sanders said.
Chris Stevenson, a recruitment specialist with PeopleScout, told WGHP/FOX8 — the news-gathering partner of the Winston-Salem Journal — that the new positions would be filled in October and November.
In December, the Winston-Salem City Council approved the airline's request for a one-time incentive of up to $29,250 in return for pledging to add up to 200 jobs.
Derwick Paige, assistant city manager for economic development, said the city has not made any incentive payments to US Airways.
"They would have to go back to council for incentives above the initial 200 jobs created," Paige said.
Forsyth County officials chose not to offer incentives to US Airways because the proposed salaries for the jobs aren't high enough. The county has a guideline that says companies should pay at least $10 an hour to be considered for economic incentives.
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