Comair to cut 520 crew members
 

Delta Air Lines Inc.'s regional carrier Comair expects to cut more than 500 of its crew positions after the summer, as it follows through with previously announced plans to ground 14 of its 50-seater jets.
The Erlanger, Ky.-based airline estimates it will eliminate 300 pilot and 220 flight attendant positions. Comair employs roughly 6,400 in total, about 1,400 of whom are pilots.
In an e-mail, Comair spokeswoman Kate Marx said the carrier is still operating the 14 earmarked aircraft through the summer but that its flight schedule will decline significantly in September.
"We have steadily reduced non-crew staff since the beginning of the year," Marx said. "Because our pilot and flight attendant staffing is directly related to our flying, we need to adjust our crew complement for the fall."
Comair follows several other airlines that have been reducing their ranks as high fuel prices cause them to cut routes. AirTran Airways on July 7 said it would eliminate 300 attendant and 180 pilot positions, and United Airlines recently announced plans to cut 150 customer service and ramp jobs.
Employees were notified July 7 through a memo by President John Selvaggio. In it, he described this year as a "roller coaster."
"We have continued to support Delta's efforts to address sky-high fuel costs by becoming more efficient and reducing our overall cost structure," the memo stated. "We have demonstrated that our strength lies in the people of Comair, and in the coming months, we must remain flexible to keep ourselves poised to take advantages of future opportunities."
Comair in January said it would ground 14 of its 50-seater jets in 2008, after Atlanta-based Delta (NYSE: DAL) cut its own domestic capacity by 5 percent in favor of overseas business. At the time, Comair would not identify how many of its employees would be affected. The move will prune Comair's fleet to 116 from 130 by the end of the year.

Comair to cut 520 crew members - Atlanta Business Chronicle:


Sorry guys...I know you guys are probably talking about in the Comair Updates Thread...but I figured that I would post a separate one for this news...good luck

So I guess Comair will be 25% less strong. Good business decision considering nobody's at the helm.

sorry guys... i thought you guys had more than 1400 pilots. 300 pilots is nearly a 1/4 of the group. what hire date does that go back too. i know they had a big hiring streak in the last year.

We have 1,476 pilots as of the latest seniority list that came out a few days ago. They were planning on hiring 400 people for "projected" flying. I think they got around 100 people. This should go back to around January 2007 hires.

One of these days, someone is going to explain to me how an airline can hire and hire and then announce furloughs the next day. I'm not just talking about Comair, I'm talking about every airline. How about a little economic forecasting? Maybe furloughs wouldn't be necessary if they had a little foresight.

Not that I'm defending them, but any airline that is at the beck and call of another carrier, and subject to their every whim, will never have any sense of direction. Not in this industry where we have millionaires temporarily running the show, not real leaders.

Airlines hire and then immediately furlough, because they can't manage their respective airlines. They are poor managers and take a very cold approach to staffing. The honestly don't care, we are work units. Poor mgmt= furlough, bottom line. I wish all those furloughed the best and I feel your pain. Today is day 95 since my illustrious Skybus went tango uniform.

Until we start developing some form of hybrid engines, this gonna be a problem for the airline industry, i wouldn't put so much blame on management.

Tristar is right. Just for a moment ask yourself if you were management and you were cancelling flights what would you do? Hire more pilots. the fact is that if you get a rep with (in the case Delta) as the company that can't attract enough pilots then you get your contract cancelled (think mesa). The only obligation management has is to be honest on the interview....something to the effect that their is a possibility of temporary furlough in the fall with call backs around Christmas.

Guys, the industry is in the crapper (again!) and the last job any of us would want to have is being in charge of staffing at a regional carrier when the legacy carrier is so cut throat.

just my .02 worth.

one of the last things an airline want to do is cancel flights due to lack of crew.