CHICAGO — United Airlines has become the first American airline to announce it will restart hiring following last year's furloughs and cuts.

A memo to staff from a United executive said the company plans to restart the hiring process for about 300 pilots. These are people who were given conditional job offers or had training scheduled before the pandemic stopped everything.

The coronavirus pandemic drastically paused airline travel both domestically and internationally, devastating the airline industry. Nearly 1,000 United pilots retired or took voluntary leave since September as part of cost-cutting measures.

Since March 2020, Congress has included nearly $54 billion in grants and loans for the airline industry in pandemic relief bills.

United says increases in travel demand, plus the increasing number of people becoming vaccinated against COVID-19, means they are confident in bringing these pilots on board now.

The TSA has reported an increase in airline passengers in the month of March, as an increase in vaccinations overlapped with Spring Break.