BANGOR, Maine — Ten full-time employees including ramp attendants, customer service personnel, mechanics and others at Bangor International Airport learned Thursday that they have lost their jobs due to decreased traffic, according to airport Director Tony Caruso.
Caruso announced last week that 15 mostly part-time employees were given pink slips upping the recent total of layoffs to 25.
“This is a sad period here at the airport,” he said.
The Department of Labor’s Rapid Response team was on hand Thursday to help airport employees with the transition.
“At this point, we don’t anticipate more [layoffs],” Caruso said.
The airport had 83 full-time employees and 70 part-time, seasonal or on-call employees before the layoffs.
Eight of the 15 given layoff notices last week were invited to stay with the airport on an on-call basis, and “about half have accepted the on-call posts. A few full timers were offered on-call posts [Thursday] and as of right now four of those have accepted,” Caruso said in the afternoon.
The airport also will leave three unfilled positions vacant. The annual airport budget averages about $13 million, according to Caruso.
During the past 12 years, the airport has served as a refueling point for more than 6,000 military charter flights. Those flights provided a significant revenue stream for the airport.
“Between 2012 and 2013, we saw a 55 percent drop [in military flights],” Caruso said.
That combined with the global economy, recent airline bankruptcies and other factors led to the layoffs, the airport director said.
“Bangor has built a great reputation in the industry and that really is through the work of all our employees, which really makes this decision more difficult,” Caruso said.
BDN reporter Nick McCrea contributed to this story.