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News
Comair, pilots resume talks
April 25, 2001: 12:56 p.m. ET

Delta Air Lines feeder airline has been grounded since March 26 by pilots' strike
By Staff Writer Chris Isidore
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Comair Inc. and the Air Line Pilots Association had their first negotiating session Wednesday since the pilots at the feeder airline went on strike a month ago.

Comair is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines (DAL: down $0.30 to $43.03, Research, Estimates) which was carrying about 25,000 passengers a day on more than 800 flights before it was grounded by the strike March 26. It flew about half the flights under the name Delta Connection, serving Delta hubs in Cincinnati and Orlando, Fla.

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Talks resumed Wednesday between Delta Air Lines subsidiary Comair and its pilots, who have been on strike against the feeder airline since March 26. (Source: CNNfn file)
 
Talks, under the auspices of the National Mediation Board, are scheduled to take place through at least Friday. The NMB, which oversees labor relations in the airline industry, has said there will be no comments from the talks.

The strike cost the parent company $24 million in revenue and about $14.7 in net income in the last six days of the quarter, according to Delta's first-quarter financial report, which caused larger-than-expected losses at the nation's No. 3 airline.

Delta has been trying to book Comair customers on mainline Delta flights or used competitors' flights to let passengers make connection with Delta flights. But the strike has still hit traffic at the Delta as well as hurting the overall company's bottom line.

Delta reached a tentative agreement with its own pilots Sunday, averting a strike that could have started March 29. That deal gave ALPA many of its negotiating goals, but a spokeswoman for Comair said both sides are going to have to give if the new round of talks are to end the strike.

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"These talks are only going to be productive if the pilots union is willing to compromise on the major issues," said Elizabeth Cannon, a spokeswoman for Comair. "We're willing to compromise. We're still committed to making our pilots the highest paid for the type of aircraft they fly."

Comair flies only regional jets which carry less than 100 passengers. The airline announced April 16 it would shed 17 of its 119 jets and eliminate 200 of its 1,350 pilots positions due to the impact of the strike.

But Max Roberts, a Comair captain and spokesman for the union said that he's not sure all the positions that Comair is threatening to cut will actually disappear.

He said nine of the aircraft being cut are turbo-prop planes that the airline already had scheduled to scrap in August, and he's not seen proof the airline will trim its jet fleet. And he said even a smaller fleet may not lead to layoffs.

"Frankly we've been understaffed for a while," Roberts said. "Are they going to furlough pilots? I honestly don't know." He said that at ALPA sponsored a job fair for Comair pilots in Cincinnati Tuesday and that a number of other carriers attended, along with about 450 to 500 Comair pilots.

"Every time we turn around we're told there is a pilot shortage," he said. "I talked to one first officer afterwards who said he was offered a job on the spot. I heard through the grapevine that 50 pilots took jobs yesterday."

Those defections will make it difficult for Comair to resume operations quickly, even if there is a settlement.

The union is seeking improved wages and company contributions to retirement plans for the first time.

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The pilots union says raises are necessary. Its figures show that starting pilots at Comair earn only $14,562 in their first year and would earn $18,810 under management's offer. The union's $1,400-a-month strike benefit actually is higher than the airline's starting pilots' pay.

Roberts said that Comair had a better operating margin than mainline Delta before the strike, and he's not worried about the prospects for the airline after the strike ends.

"If they gave us everything we wanted, it would only drop it down the operating margin down to 14 percent, which is still more profitable than mainline Delta," he said. "In the tentative agreement, they showed the high value Delta Air Lines places on its own pilots group. Hopefully they'll turn their attention to Comair now and show the value they place on its pilots." graphic





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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.