Thread: Comair updates?
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Old 07-08-2008 | 07:35 PM
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From: blueJet
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TO:
Comair Pilots and Flight Attendants

FROM:



Dave Soaper, Senior Vice President of Aircraft Operations

RE:



Aligning crew staffing with reduced flying
As was communicated last week, the significant reduction in our fall schedule will result in an
overage of pilots and flight attendants, especially since we had just increased our crew
complement to accommodate the additional flying we’re currently performing.
We are still making minor adjustments to the number of pilot and flight attendant displacements,
but the fall flight schedule calls for substantial reductions – 300 pilot positions and 220 flight
attendant positions. For pilots, the displacement bid will affect both CVG and JFK CRJ captains.
However, we expect the largest impact to be in our JFK base for both work groups.
It is important to note that the number of displacements could still change based on the voluntary
options we can put in place. We informed the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) and the
International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) of the reduction in flying last week. Since then, we
published a joint letter to the flight attendants on July 3 stating that the company and the IBT have
agreed on several voluntary options (part-time bid, base vacancy bids, early out opportunities,
etc.) lessening the impact to that work group.
The next step for flight attendants is to release a part-time bid no later than July 9. For pilots, we
expect the displacement bid to be released no later than July 21.
We recognize the reduction in schedule came as a surprise since we were recruiting pilots and
flight attendants in recent months. As President John Selvaggio noted in his memo, our flying for
this year has been a rollercoaster. In January, we said we would experience a 10-15 percent
decrease in flying throughout the year. So far in 2008, we have been fortunate to be well above
that plan. Our hiring plan was based on the fall schedule (which included the additional flying)
and our desire to be in a strategic position to capitalize on short-notice flying opportunities.
The initial reduction in September and further block hour cuts in October through the rest of the
year bring our actual flying much closer to the original estimate and seem even more dramatic
given our good fortune during the first eight months of the year. As fuel prices continue to climb
to unprecedented levels and capacity is further reduced, we are faced with the unpleasant task of
aligning our workforce with another revised plan.
We understand these fluctuations can be frustrating, and we continue to do our best to manage
through them as proactively as we can. We appreciate your ongoing efforts to serve our customers
and run a safe airline. We will keep you informed as we have more news to share. If you have
questions, please talk to an Inflight supervisor or chief pilot.




Comair Pilots...

Please hold all pessimism until September 1st, as Dave F'nSoaper has declared the first 8 months of 2008 to be "Good Times". As we are only 6 months and a week into 2008, there's still lots of "good going around". Frowns and badmouthing Comair management will not be permitted during the "Good Times 2008 Tour"

Embrace the Suck, over...
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