NATION Grounded workers find it hard to cope in airline towns

Airline towns feel the pinch of industry woes.
PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. (AP) -- This tree-lined Atlanta suburb bears little resemblance to Rust Belt communities, but the "For Sale" signs posted outside $250,000-and-up homes betray the fact that like factory and mill towns, this area is suffering amid the decline of its major industry.
Layoffs at the major airlines, particularly at Delta, have hit Fayette County hard, forcing employees to cut their spending, and in some cases, move away. A litany of problems has sliced into air travel, starting with the struggling economy and the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, and, more recently, the war in Iraq and the SARS illness in Asia.
Affecting communities
The airlines' woes have rippled down to the communities their employees call home.
Furloughed Delta pilot Grady Boyce does without the luxuries that drive economies in airline towns: No more movies, no eating out, no expensive gifts.
"First time you get furloughed, you figure you're not going to be out that long," said Boyce, 34, who has been off the job a year. "It takes a while to settle in. You go through depression, a whole cycle of getting over the shock. It's really a bummer for the people it affects."
In Peachtree City, an upper middle-class community of 35,000 about 30 miles south of Atlanta and close to Hartsfield International Airport, one in 20 households has some connection to the aviation industry.
Local officials say sales tax revenue has dropped 3 percent in the last year, and small restaurants and mom-and-pop shops that relied on the airline employees are hurting.
Businesses assisted
Chris Clark of the Fayette County Development Authority said his office assisted 187 small businesses last fiscal year that were looking to downsize or were on the verge of closing. That number has swelled to 255 so far this year in part because of Delta's problems, he said.
"We've seen some stores change their hours, a few close, some look to other areas," Clark said.
Bloomington, Minn., is going through similar problems because of its concentration of Northwest employees. Bob Hawbaker, a senior planner in the community of 85,000, said there's no denying the impact the airlines' woes have had on the local economy. In March, the carrier cut its work force by 4,900 and grounded 20 airplanes.
The plight of airline communities recalls the downturn that towns in the Northeast and Midwest have suffered through with the closing of steel, paper and textile mills and decline of mining and other industries. But many of those jobs were blue-collar; with the recession in the airline industry, many white-collar workers are also affected.
In Peachtree City, Boyce said he has applied for numerous jobs looking for work in the service industry, the managerial field and as a teacher. So far he's had no luck.
He has faced soaring medical costs because his 2-year-old daughter was born with a defect in her intestinal tract. His union is paying for temporary coverage, but he worries about the airline's future.
Boyce sold his home in late February and moved to another nearby that could accommodate his in-laws, who will share living expenses. "It cut down my exposure and gave me a little bit more cash to operate with," he said.