Who knows...

More Comair cutbacks coming?

Delta says decision made, but it won't say who got contracts
BY ALEXANDER COOLIDGE | [email protected]
While both Comair pilots and executives breathed a sigh of relief after a last-minute deal this week averted a strike, the Erlanger-based regional airline still faces potential fleet cutbacks at the hands of parent Delta Air Lines.
Delta said Friday that it already has made a decision on what carriers will do its regional flying in the future - though it refused to say whether Comair would lose more jets.
Comair officials have pushed hard to cut pilot and other pay to improve the airline's chances of retaining regional flying for Delta. In November, Delta said it would strip Comair of its 12 70-seat jets and let contractor SkyWest operate them next spring. Delta said the decision on the remaining 81 jets in play - some in Comair's fleet - would occur by the year-end.

Delta officials said the airline would wait for contractors to announce their new duties. Spokeswoman Gina Laughlin said that even if Comair and its pilots union cut a deal immediately to slash pay, that would not alter how Delta awarded the jets.
Comair and its pilots agreed to a last-minute truce Thursday, giving both sides until Feb. 2 to continue talks.
"While we continue to support Comair's efforts to restructure its business, the results of the (bidding) for new and existing regional jet flying are not impacted by the decision of Comair and its union to continue negotiating," Laughlin said.
"The decision to award flying was based on the bids submitted by each carrier this fall."
Comair is already seeing its fleet shrink to about 132 jets by spring, down from 168 this fall. Comair officials estimated that they could lose as many as 42 additional aircraft.
Comair, which employs 6,300, including 4,400 at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, has declined to speculate on the potential impact on jobs. Each 70-seat aircraft employs 22 pilots and flight attendants, and every 50-seat aircraft employs 17, so an estimated 850 jobs could be threatened if Comair were to lose 42 jets.
Passengers will not be affected by shifts in aircraft, since routes once flown by Comair simply will be shifted to another carrier.
Comair officials declined to comment on Delta's process for reassigning regional flying. Instead, they said they were focused on negotiating a new deal with the pilots union.
"Regardless of the outcome of the ... process, Comair needs to complete its restructuring," spokeswoman Kate Marx said.
Friday before 140 union members' families, national Air Line Pilots Association president Duane Woerth chastised Delta for pushing Comair pilots for concessions.
"This is not post-9/11, it's six years later," Woerth told the families at the Holiday Inn Airport in Erlanger.
Delta projects a $1.2 billion profit by 2010, Woerth noted, yet the company is looking to strip "pilots of their pay."