United Airlines halts airport outsourcing until 2017

(Reuters) - United Airlines on Friday promised it would not outsource more jobs in baggage handling or customer service at least until 2017, aiming to reduce uncertainty for workers after announcing about 1,150 job cuts in February, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.

The decision resulted from employee feedback on how to improve the airline, solicited in September when Oscar Munoz became chief executive of United Continental Holdings Inc <UAL.N>, according to the note from Jon Roitman, United's senior vice president for airport operations.

The moratorium is not indefinite because "it's impossible to know what the airline environment will be in three-five years," the note said. It lasts until December 2016, when the contracts of those work groups can formally be amended.

It was not immediately clear how many jobs, if any, United had intended to outsource before issuing the moratorium.

(Reporting By Jeffrey Dastin in New York)