Kind of related....

 

Rental car sites to be consolidated

By Bob Driehaus

Post staff reporter

 

Despite the uncertainty associated with the bankruptcy, the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport anticipates a continued high demand for rental cars for fliers and is pursuing a plan to consolidate its rental car facilities.  Airport officials are talking with rental car companies and airport board members about a plan to charge a $3.50 a day Customer Facility Charge per car to pay for the three-phase, $60 million project.

 

Full story at http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050927/NEWS01/509270352

Delta to pilots: We need 19% more

Retirees could lose health plan

 

By James Pilcher

Enquirer staff writer

 

Delta Air Lines is asking its pilots for a 19.5 percent pay cut.  It also is seeking other concessions, such as no extra pay for night or international flying, new pay scales for smaller planes and the elimination of health benefits for retirees, according to specifics released by the union to its members.  The company previously said it was asking for $325 million annually from the pilots as it restructures under bankruptcy but had not given specifics.  The proposal was given to the union Sept. 12, two days before the airline filed for Chapter 11 protection after losing almost $10 billion in the past four years.

 

The proposed pilot cuts would be on top of the 32.5 percent pay cut and other concessions the union agreed to last fall to keep the airline out of bankruptcy then.  The 2004 cuts totaled about $1 billion a year.  Pilot pay at Delta now ranges between $34,000 a year for a first-year pilot and $194,000 annually for a senior pilot on Delta's largest plane.

 

Meanwhile, Wednesday in federal bankruptcy court in New York, the company's unsecured creditors created a nine-member committee.  The committee - which includes Boeing, Pratt & Whitney, the airline's branch of the Air Line Pilots Association, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (the federal agency that insures pension plans), Bank of New York and Coca-Cola Co. - will represent those creditors through Delta's restructuring.

 

Full story at http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050929/BIZ01/509290354/1002/BIZ

Analyst bullish on CVG, Delta

By Bob Driehaus

Post staff reporter

 

The Delta Air Lines bankruptcy is a temporary dip in what will otherwise be a long, healthy growth pattern for the airline at its Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport hub, according to a leading aviation industry analyst.  Michael Boyd, president of the Body Group in Evergreen, Colo., is bullish about the future of Delta's Northern Kentucky and Salt Lake City hubs.

 

Delta announced it would cut flights at the Hebron, Ky., airport by 26 percent on Dec. 1.  Delta has announced it will cut another 15 to 20 percent of flights out of its system, which may or may not include flights at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky.  Boyd is confident that the reductions are not the beginning of a downward trend but rather a needed correction that positions the airport for future growth.  He pointed out that the cuts at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International return service to 2003 levels.

 

Full story at http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050929/NEWS01/509290356

Attorney: Pay Delta retirees first

Airline meets creditors in N.Y.

By Aleksandrs Rozens

Associated Press

 

Delta Air Lines Inc.'s retired pilots should be put ahead of other creditors as the bankrupt airline works out its debt problems, a lawyer for the retired pilots said Wednesday.  Dean Booth, a partner at the law firm Schreeder, Wheeler & Flint who is representing the approximately 4,500 retired pilots, said they are entitled to receive pension payments under a collective-bargaining agreement reached before Delta filed for bankruptcy protection on Sept. 14.

 

Booth said the payments are effectively akin to salaries of current employees.  "Bankruptcy law requires collective bargaining agreements to be honored unless the agreements are changed by a bankruptcy judge or by consent of the parties," Booth told the Associated Press during a meeting between the airline and its creditors at a New York hotel.

 

Full story at http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050929/BIZ/509290338/1001

Outsourcing is option for Delta

By Bob Driehaus

Post staff reporter

 

Imagine stepping onto a plane and being greeted by a flight attendant who works for an independent contractor. The pilot on the intercom doesn't work for the airline, either. The mechanics who prepped the plane? They're also hired guns.

 

You won't find such an outfit today, but it's a scenario that has union leaders worried, analysts talking and accountants crunching numbers as Delta and Northwest airlines seek to break out of the money-losing business model that led them into bankruptcy protection in September.

 

More at www.cincypost.com

From the 9/30/05 Enquirer:

 

 

Hamilton Co. officials seek answers on airport's future

By Kimball Perry

Enquirer staff writer

 

Tired of what they consider a lack of a voice on the board that controls the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, two Hamilton County officeholders are asking the board's chairman for specific answers about the airport's future operations.  Commissioner Todd Portune and Auditor Dusty Rhodes co-authored a letter to William T. Robinson III, chairman of the Kenton County Airport Board, asking him to bring answers with him when Robinson addresses Hamilton County commissioners next week.

 

"Don't come over here and give us the usual thing, the dog-and-pony show about how important (the airport is) to the area economy," Rhodes said Thursday.  Robinson received the letter Wednesday but refused comment on it Thursday.  The letter comes weeks after Delta Air Lines declared bankruptcy, a move that could be crippling for the airport where Delta dominates.

 

Full story at http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050930/NEWS01/509300405/1056

 

Things have been fine for YEARS without these two's input, so let's keep it that way.  Delta's prices will come down even more eventually.  If you let these guys have input, we'll probably have 2 or 3 low cost carriers and NO HUB.  I'm sure they would be happy with that, but not me.

The Kenton County Airport Authority placed all their eggs in one basket, now they must deal with the consequences. The airport is in the process of completing a brand new runway that lord knows how they'll pay for, since with Delta in bankruptcy, all lease agreement between the airline and the airport can and probably have been terminated. In addition, with the loss of over 100 Delta/Delta Connection flights, downgrade of many flights to regional jet flying, and the loss of DHL's hub, the airport is going to see an enormous drop in revenue from landing fees, a main source of income for most airport. Last I checked, CVG's landing fee was $0.98 per 1,000 lbs, there is absolutely no way they can maintain that price. However, when an airport increases landing fees, it is usually a detriment to encouraging airlines to expand/start service at an airport. Talk has been going around that Delta will completely do away with their "Simplifares" campaign, as they have already increased their maximum fare several times. If one thing is certain, Delta will definitely not be lowering fares at CVG, or anywhere at that. Also, with over 400 flights a day, Delta is still a monster at CVG, and will likely continue to intimidate any potential low fare carrier from entering the market. With DHL in Willmington, UPS in Louisville, BAX in Toledo, and FedEx in Indianapolis, there are no cargo companies left that could set up a hub at CVG. The port authority is going to have find some way to recoup for the loss in revenue that will be incurred as well as pay the bills.

Delta says it is reducing U.S. flights

The reason: High fuel costs

 

Delta Air Lines Inc., buffeted by high fuel costs in the wake of Katrina and Rita, said it is reducing its domestic flight schedule.  The Atlanta-based carrier isn't experiencing a shortage of jet fuel, but it is conserving energy, it said. 

 

Delta spokeswoman Benet Wilson said fewer than 100 flights a day out of thousands will be canceled systemwide. Delta will cancel those flights that will least inconvenience customers, she said.  The cancellations will be determined on a daily basis, making it impossible to know how many flights from Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport will be affected, Wilson said.

 

Full story at http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051005/BIZ/510050336

Delta's cuts cost region

 

By Bob Driehaus

Post staff reporter

 

The 26 percent cut in Delta Air Lines' flights, scheduled to take effect in December, will have a negative impact of $350 million on Greater Cincinnati's economy, according to the airport's forecast.  William T. Robinson, chairman of the Kenton County Airport Board, explained the impact to the Hamilton County Commission at a downtown meeting Wednesday.

 

The airport's contribution to the local economy was estimated in a UC study to be $4.5 billion in 2003.  George Vredeveld, director of the Greater Cincinnati Center for Economic Education at UC, led the study, which was completed in May.  It found each visitor to Greater Cincinnati has a $1,000 impact on the local economy.  Combined with the loss of jobs and other secondary effects, the service cuts will reduce the airport's impact on the economy by $350 million, Vredeveld estimated for the airport.

 

Full story at http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051006/NEWS01/510060359

I don't think anyone is even reading this thread anymore.  Too depressing.

From the 10/6/05 Enquirer:

 

 

MULTIMEDIA

• To view a motion graphic showing noise contours at CVG in the past, present, and predicted for the future, click on the link.  Video courtesy Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.CVG Noise Contours (Windows Media Video)

 

Hamilton Co., airport board meet cordially

County still wants larger Ohio presence in affairs at CVG

By James Pilcher

Enquirer staff writer

 

DOWNTOWN - Relations between Hamilton County and the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport appeared to thaw Wednesday after a presentation by airport officials to the county commission.  But even though both sides pledged to continue talking about disputed issues, a major point of disagreement - more and stronger representation from the Ohio side - will probably remain unresolved, officials from both sides conceded.

 

Several Hamilton County elected officials have been seeking more representation on the airport board, but Wednesday, board chairman William Robinson III said any change in the board makeup was "out of our hands."  "That is up to the Kentucky state legislature to change our charter," Robinson told the board during a one-hour presentation to the commission's weekly meeting downtown.

 

Full story at http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051006/NEWS01/510060336/1056/rss02

 

Comair cuts

By Bob Driehaus

Post staff reporter

 

Comair officials and workers and airline analysts are in broad agreement that cuts announced Thursday in response to parent Delta Air Lines' bankruptcy - up to 1,000 jobs and 30 jets - were inevitable.  The hotly debated question that the future performance of the airline will answer is whether the cuts were deep enough to fix what ails Comair and Delta.

 

Comair and Delta had signaled for weeks that a downsizing was in store, and airline officials and analysts agreed that the cuts were a necessary step in Delta's ongoing attempt to reverse its fortunes and return to profitability.  But some analysts predict that even more cuts will be necessary to reduce the size of Delta's regional jet fleet to a profitable level.

 

Full story at http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051014/NEWS01/510140345

The announcement hits close to home

By Kevin Eigelbach and Bob Driehaus

Post staff reporters

 

The announcement Thursday that Comair plans to cut up to 1,000 jobs worries Donna Tomlin of Erlanger, Ky., for several reasons:  Her nephew, Taylor Mill, Ky., resident Joe Sturdivant, took a job with Comair three months ago that he really likes and that pays for his postsecondary education. She doesn't want him to lose it.

 

She works as a supervisor in the Starbucks Coffee shop inside Terminal Three at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, the terminal that Delta and Comair flights leave from. She's afraid the Comair cuts will mean fewer customers and fewer hours for her.

 

Full story at http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051014/NEWS01/510140347

Founder did it all in the early years

By Bob Driehaus

Post staff reporter

 

David Mueller was about as hands-on as a company president and CEO could get when he piloted the inaugural flight of the fledgling Comair in March 1977, the first days of airline deregulation.  "I flew it. I wrote the tickets and carried the baggage. Did everything," he said in a 1987 Post interview about the flight from what was then Greater Cincinnati International Airport to Cleveland in a seven-passenger Piper Navajo.

 

Through recessions and booms, unionization and strikes, Comair has grown into a 7,000 employee, 174-jet juggernaut and a major part of Delta Air Lines' hub at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.  Comair has managed to keep growing through every downturn - until now.  Whether it survives the Delta bankruptcy intact won't be known for months, maybe years.

 

Full story at http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051014/NEWS01/510140346

Where they were originally saying up to 1000 jobs could be cut, now they're talking 315.  Still too many, but I guess it could have been much worse.  From the 11/7/05 Enquirer:

 

 

Comair warns 315 jobs may go Jan. 2

By James Pilcher

Enquirer staff writer

 

Comair has notified Kentucky state officials that 315 pilots and flight attendants could be laid off in the first wave of cuts as the Erlanger-based carrier tries to restructure under bankruptcy.  The letter to the state, revealed today, was the first indication how many pilots and flight attendants – mostly based at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport – could be affected as Comair cuts as many as 1,000 jobs.

 

The layoffs, which would take place on Jan. 2, and could include up to 150 pilots and 165 flight attendants, Comair said in the notice required by state law.  Comair’s corporate parent Delta Air Lines also has begun warning workers of potential layoffs from its local operation as it too restructures under bankruptcy.  The job cuts are taking place as part of Delta’s efforts to shrink its hub at the local airport, including a 26 percent cut in the flight schedule on Dec. 2. 

 

Delta is expecting as many as 650 jobs to be eliminated by shrinking the hub.  Comair, Delta’s subsidiary, could drop another 650 jobs as it tries to cut $70 million from its annual costs.

 

Full story at http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051107/BIZ01/311070013

 

Okay, well this sucks.  They expected to lose $2 billion this year.  They lost $1.1 BILLION IN THE THIRD QUARTER ALONE!  Things don't look so hot for Delta's employees or for the people who depend on Delta's service.  From the 11/10/05 Enquirer:

 

 

Pilots make counteroffer on cuts

By James Pilcher

Enquirer staff writer

 

Delta Air Lines’ pilot union has offered its own salary plan that concedes significantly less than the bankrupt carrier is seeking but that the union says includes everything the company should need to keep restructuring plans on track.  In a filing made late Wednesday night with a bankruptcy court in New York City, Delta’s branch of the Air Line Pilots Association offered $90.7 million in annual givebacks, including a 9 percent pay cut.  The Atlanta-based airline is seeking $325 million in concessions, including a 19.5 percent pay cut.

 

Delta also has asked the court to reject the existing contract with its nearly 7,000 pilots, which would allow the company to impose its own rules. Wednesday’s filing by the pilot union also officially opposed that; ALPA is a member of the creditors’ committee as set up by the bankruptcy court.  The hearing is set for next Tuesday, and the judge has 30 days to decide.  The union has scheduled a major rally in Atlanta for the day before to demonstrate against such a possibility.  Delta employs about 700 pilots locally at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, the airline’s second-largest hub.

 

Full story at http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051110/BIZ01/311100005

 

Anyone know the dates for a strike. ;-) If they strike near the X-mas, my holiday will be ruined. What a mess it could be. I don't know how this will play out. I will be following the court proceedings closely . I think they should start 2006 on the right foot and strike then.

 

<b>Delta Pilots' Strike Could Cripple Greater Cincinnati Airport

 

Airline Responsible For 90 Percent Of Flights At CVG</b>

 

HEBRON, Ky. -- The impact of Delta's bankruptcy filing will start to have a tangible effect in the Tri-State this week, as the carrier slashes flights out of the Greater Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky Airport by 26 percent, News 5's Juliette Vara reported.  The cuts start Thursday, and about 177 fewer flights will take off from CVG as a result.

 

Attorneys for the airline were in court Monday to argue that the company shouldn't be held to its contract with the union because doing so would put Delta out of business, Roy reported.  The airline wants $325 million in concessions from the union, but pilot union officials argue that their members took a 51 percent pay cut just last year.  If the pilots' union goes on strike, CVG could be crippled.

 

Full story at http://www.channelcincinnati.com/news/5416624/detail.html

If they strike..What airline would pick them up, since that would put Delta out of business?

They better not strike.  If they do, I would probably lose my job along with thousands of others.

I know in the past, the government has stepped in to prevent other airlines like United and American from striking. Any chance they may do the same since it would impose an undue hardship on the travel industry during the holiday season if Delta were allowed to strike.

From the 11/27/05 Enquirer:

 

 

PHOTO: A guard watches over a nearly abandoned area that once was a Delta hub at the Dallas/Fort Worth airport. The Dallas area took a hit when the Delta hub left, but expects to recover after thousands of jobs were lost.  The Enquirer/Michael Keating

 

PHOTO: Seats filling the Dallas/Fort Worth gate area still bear Delta Air Lines' logo. Delta has 8,000 employees at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, but will cut up to 1,000 in January.  The Enquirer/Michael E. Keating

 

What's next if Delta goes?

By James Pilcher

Enquirer staff writer

 

It is one of the holy grails of economic development, alongside Fortune 500 headquarters, flagship universities and free-flowing capital for investment.  Happy are the cities that can boast they are a hub for a major airline, and questful are those certain that obtaining one is the key to the magic kingdom of economic advantage.  But what happens when your fortress hub is drastically downsized, or dissolved altogether?

 

Officials at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport hope they don't have to find out, even as hub tenant Delta Air Lines restructures under U.S. Bankruptcy Court protection.  And little wonder.  The airport generates an estimated economic impact of $4.5 billion a year, and 93 percent of its daily flights are by Delta, Erlanger-based subsidiary Comair or another Delta partner.

 

Full story at http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051127/BIZ01/511270357/1076/rss01

 

---

From the 11/27/05 Enquirer:

 

PHOTO: Escalators are no longer filled with passengers going to and from Concourse E, used by Delta at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport until the airline closed its hub there in January. As the Cincinnati area experiences a downsizing, it is following to some degree in the wake of a series of hub shutdowns in other cities.  The Enquirer/Michael E. Keating

 

PHOTO: Monitors at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, once filled with Delta flight information, display the small number of flights that arrive and depart there now under the Delta logo.  The Enquirer/Michael E. Keating

 

Delta fights grim trend

Shutdowns elsewhere offer lessons for the airline and for CVG region

By James Pilcher

Enquirer staff writer

 

Throughout the buildup to this fall's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing and since then, Delta Air Lines has declared its commitment to keep its hub open at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.  But analysts say there still are too many hubs in the U.S. aviation system - at least for major carriers such as Delta and its counterparts - to make money consistently.  That fact was cited this fall when Delta announced its intent to cut 26 percent of its flight schedule at the local airport beginning Thursday, with up to 1,000 job cuts to follow in January 2006.

 

So as Cincinnati experiences a downsizing, it is following to some degree in the wake of a series of hub shutdowns in cities such as Nashville (American Airlines), Raleigh-Durham (American), San Jose (American) and most recently, St. Louis (former TWA/American), Pittsburgh (US Airways) and Dallas (a former Delta hub that closed in January).  At least two of those cities - Nashville and Dallas - have taken different approaches to overcome the loss of their hubs, and there are some lessons for local airport interests to consider.

 

Full story at http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051127/BIZ01/511270305/1076/rss01

 

---

Further reading:

 

• Cincinnati Enquirer: Nashville shows way to recovery (11/27/2005)

• Cincinnat Enquirer: Dallas counts on diverse economy (11/27/2005)

 

Delta flight cuts start today

Many early, late departures dropped

By James Pilcher

Enquirer staff writer

 

HEBRON - The first significant local impact from Delta Air Lines' ongoing bankruptcy troubles hits home today with the elimination of nearly 160 flights - 26 percent of its schedule - at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.  Airline officials say passengers will notice little difference, but nine destinations have been eliminated from the schedule at Delta's second-largest hub.

 

It also will be a lot harder, for example, to catch an early-morning flight for a meeting in New York and be back that evening.  That's because in addition to spreading out the flights throughout the day to use workers more efficiently, Delta and its Erlanger-based regional subsidiary, Comair, have cut a lot of early and late departures from the local schedule.

 

More at http://www.enquirer.com

Delta, Comair ask for more givebacks

Pilots, flight attendants, mechanics try to balance own interests with keeping employers in business

By James Pilcher, Enquirer staff writer

 

The service cuts that start today at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport and the jobs cuts that they will force may not be the last here. Both Delta Air Lines and its Comair subsidiary are trying to cut costs further under bankruptcy, with the two airlines asking unions for new concessions.

 

At Comair, the company is seeking to cut $70 million from its costs, including $17.3 million from its pilots, $8.9 million from its flight attendants and $1 million from its mechanics.  Nearly all of these Comair workers are based at the local airport.  In addition, it will begin voluntary leaves and severances and involuntary layoffs in January.

 

More at http://www.enquirer.com

In the interest of fairness, when is someone in the Bush Administration or on behalf of them going to say:

 

"That's a loss of over $122 every time someone steps on a plane. The more it

carries - the more it loses. For $122 we could have simply purchased Amtrak tickets for each passenger."

 

"Now count to 10 with me.... They've just lost $2,932. This is a failed company based on a failed ..."

 

<Sigh> I can't do that. It takes an evil person with sinister motives to seriously publish

statements like that. This is sad news. Delta's a great airline with fine employees. As with

Amtrak I hope they survive.

Airport is best in on-time arrivals

 

 

 

The Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport had the best on-time arrival rate overall among the nation's 33 busiest airports in October, according to federal data released Thursday. Erlanger-based regional airline Comair finished fourth out of the nation's 20 largest carriers, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Comair's planes arrived within 15 minutes of schedule 84.9 percent of the time, while corporate parent Delta Air Lines' on-time rate was 80.1 percent for the month, good for 14th. Overall, the on-time arrival rate at the airport - Delta's second-largest hub - was just under 86.8 percent

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051202/BIZ01/512020412/1076/BIZ

From the AP, 11/1/05:

 

Judge: Facts will guide me in Delta bankruptcy

By Aleksandrs Rozens, The Associated Press

 

NEW YORK – On the fifth day of hearings focused on Delta Airlines Inc.’s request to break a collective bargaining agreement with its pilots, Judge Prudence Carter Beatty hinted at how she may arrive at a decision on this hotly contested aspect of the airline’s bankruptcy case.  Amid testimony Wednesday by a Wall Street financier who advocated a plan seeking wage cuts from pilots, Beatty said that given the complexities of the carrier’s business, she wanted to examine the facts in context.  “I really think the facts can be misrepresented unless you know more about the context,” Beatty told the court.  “I actually think in a case like this, the facts are much more important than the law.”

 

Atlanta-based Delta, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sept. 14, has about 50,000 employees of which some 6,000 are pilots.  It is looking for $3 billion in annual cost savings overall.  Delta wants $325 million in concessions from the pilots, saying it needs to cut labor costs to make itself competitive with other carriers who operate at a lower cost.  The Air Line Pilots Association, the union representing the pilots, has offered $90.7 million in concessions and has threatened a strike if the court grants Delta’s request.  Delta maintains such a walkout would violate the Railway Labor Act.

 

Full story at http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051202/NEWS01/512020341

 

From the 11/2/05 Enquirer:

 

PHOTO: Robert Viox, general manager of FoodBrand, sits inside his company's Gas Light Bakery Thursday at the airport. He expects his company's airport restaurants to be busier during the day.  The Enquirer/Ernest Coleman

 

Delta's cuts go smoothly

Vendors expect to feel them later

By James Pilcher, Enquirer staff writer

 

HEBRON - On the same day that Delta Air Lines and Comair cut 26 percent of their flight schedules at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, one local airport restaurant operator was running a training session for eight new hires Thursday.  "We're having to make some changes, yes," said Robert Viox, general manager of FoodBrand LLC, which operates 11 restaurants at the airport, including nine inside Delta's Terminal 3.  "And nobody knows what the impact eventually will be for us. But we are optimistic that the traffic and the flights will eventually return."

 

Delta announced the cuts in September and eliminated direct flights to nine cities from Cincinnati: Moline, Ill., Mobile, Ala., Fort Walton Beach, Fla., Islip, N.Y., Pensacola, Fla., Tallahassee, Fla., Montgomery, Ala., Baton Rouge, La., and Daytona Beach, Fla. Connecting service is still available through Atlanta.  The airline and Comair, its Erlanger-based regional subsidiary, also eliminated almost 160 departures from its overall schedule, most in the early morning and late at night, making one-day business trips more difficult.

 

Full story at http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051202/BIZ01/512020373/1076/rss01

From the AP, 12/3/05:

 

 

Banker makes case for pilot wage cuts

By Aleksandrs Rozens

The Associated Press

 

NEW YORK - Delta Air Lines Inc., which has asked a bankruptcy court judge to throw out a collective bargaining agreement with its pilots, has seen a key measure of profitability drop sharply since 1999, a Wall Street investment banker said on Friday.  But if Delta gets the $325 million in pilot wage and benefits cuts it is seeking, the airline will achieve its goal of breaking even next year, Timothy Coleman, senior managing director at the Blackstone Group, told the court on the sixth day of hearings on Delta's request.

 

Coleman said the airline's plan to cut costs by $3 billion including the pilots' concessions is the "minimal" it needs to do.  "I don't think they have very much of a shot at surviving" if they don't achieve a $3 billion cost cut plan, said Coleman. The Blackstone Group is an investment bank advising Delta.  Coleman said Delta's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and rents - a category referred to as "Ebitdar" - dropped to $486 million in 2004 from $3.7 billion from 2000.

 

Full story at http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051203/BIZ01/512030337/1076/rss01

 

From Bloomberg News, 12/6/05:

 

 

Airport's bill won't be fully paid

Judge presses airline to be realistic about recovery

By Tom Becker

Bloomberg News

 

A lawyer for Delta Air Lines Inc. told a bankruptcy judge it's "a safe assumption" the company won't be able to fully repay creditors - including Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport - owed almost $28.3 billion.  Delta is asking U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Prudence Carter Beatty to authorize pay cuts for its pilots to save $325 million a year, part of its plan to reduce expenses by $3 billion.  The pilots union opposes the request.  As hearings on the matter entered their seventh day, Beatty said Delta hasn't given her a clear indication of what it needs to reorganize.

 

The airline hasn't filed a plan explaining how it intends to exit bankruptcy and repay creditors.  Companies who file under Chapter 11 of the U.S. bankruptcy code typically don't repay all their debt.  Unsecured creditors, for example, usually get about 40 cents on the dollar.  Delta's largest local creditor is the airport, where the airline operates its second-largest hub.  Because of unpaid landing fees and other non-payments, Delta owes the airport about $2.9 million.  The airport is a non-voting member of the creditors' committee, but airport officials have not yet filed a claim for the money.

 

Full story at http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051206/BIZ01/512060331/1076/rss01

 

---

From the AP, 12/7/05:

 

Delta official: Pilots won't be fired

Airline executive testifies in court

By Aleksandrs Rozens

Associated Press

 

NEW YORK - Delta Air Lines Inc. wants to retain its pilots and it plans to have a collective bargaining agreement in the future with its pilots, an executive with the bankrupt carrier said Tuesday.  "I am assuming we're still here because we still don't have an agreement," Judge Prudence Carter Beatty said at the start of the eighth day of hearings on Delta's request to do away with the pilot's current collective bargaining agreement.

 

Beatty has repeatedly pleaded with both sides to come to a middle ground.  Delta's chief labor relations executive Geraldine Carolan testified that "Delta is a company right now at grave financial risk.  We have already reduced labor costs of all employee groups. We are asking pilots to pay their fair share."  Beatty cautioned Delta that the term "fair" irks the pilots because they agreed to salary cuts in 2004.  "They (the pilots) made a big contribution last year. They don't believe the proposal is fair because of what they already gave." 

 

Asked by an attorney representing Delta if she has heard that the airline would like to "be rid of" its pilots, Carolan said: "I have not."  Asked if she believes the airline's collective bargaining agreement will be in place for "many years to come," Carolan said "yes."

 

Full story at http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051207/BIZ/512070336/1001/RSS04

 

New Details About Possible Delta Pilots' Strike

 

The Delta Pilot Union's Master Executive Council says if the pilots contract is voided in bankruptcy court or management begins imposing terms, the pilots have the right to strike.  Bankruptcy statutes say if a court has not ruled within 30 days of the start of hearings, management may impose the terms in its request.

 

December 16th represents the end of those 30 days.  On Thursday afternoon, the representatives of Delta's pilots voted unanimously to ballot the pilot group to authorize a strike.  The timing of a ballot was left to the discretion of the chairman.

 

More at http://www.wcpo.com/news/2005/local/12/08/delta.html

Unfortunately I think that Delta should just cease operations.  I know it will affect many many thousands of people's well being, but I am not one for the government holding together - with Scotch tape and a prayer - a business that is not well run or managed.

 

I think a pilots strike will kill delta, having said that, I think most pilots would chose a job over unemployment.

Unfortunately, I think most of Delta's problems were inherited by former management.  The current CEO has tried to pull things back together based on the many articles I have read.  It is hard to dig out of a hole that was so dug so deep. 

Crisis averted, for now....

 

 

Delta's pilots get new deal

But tentative agreement lasts only through March

By James Pilcher

Enquirer staff writer

 

Delta Air Lines and its pilots union reached a tentative short-term agreement late Sunday that should stave off the possibility of having a federal bankruptcy judge void the existing contract - at least for now.  The agreement calls for a 14 percent wage cut and a 1 percent reduction in other pilot costs, but the agreement only lasts through March - with both sides pledging to work out a permanent deal by then.  Delta had been seeking a pay cut of 19.5 percent as part of a $325 million reduction in pilot costs annually.

 

The tentative deal needs to be ratified by the 6,900 members of Delta's branch of the Air Line Pilots Association by Dec. 28, but the terms go into effect Thursday.  The union represents almost 800 pilots based locally at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, Delta's second-largest hub.

 

Full story at http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051212/BIZ01/512120322/1076/rss01

 

From the 12/13/05 Enquirer:

 

 

Delta givebacks total $143M

By James Pilcher

Enquirer staff writer

 

Leaders of Delta Air Lines' pilots union say the temporary givebacks the union agreed to Sunday are worth about $143 million annually, or almost $12 million a month - making the tentative agreement worth less than half of the $325 million the company was seeking.  Those union leaders stressed the temporary nature of the agreement.

 

However, they stopped short of saying they would agree to further cuts.  "The knot in this whole thing is that this is an interim agreement," said John Culp, spokesman for Delta's branch of the Air Line Pilots Association.  "A lot of people are missing that and focusing on this by comparing it to the long-term demand the company originally made.  This is interim, and an interim agreement is step one in what is going to be a two-step process."

 

Full story at http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051213/BIZ01/512130325/1076/rss01

 

I can tell you guys from first hand experience that the airport has slowed down a great deal in the early mornings and last nights.  I work 3rd shift and when I get there and walk the concourses, I'm usually the only one there besides cleaning people.  This should be a short-term thing though, these kinks always work themselves out.

From the 12/23/05 Enquirer:

 

 

Delta seeks 6-month extension

Reorganization complex, airline argues

By Harry R. Weber

The Associated Press

 

ATLANTA - Citing in part the time it will take to further cut costs, Delta Air Lines Inc., the nation's third-largest carrier, asked a bankruptcy court judge Thursday to give the company a six-month extension to file its reorganization plan.  The Atlanta-based company, which filed for Chapter 11 in New York on Sept. 14, currently has a Jan. 12 deadline to exclusively file its reorganization plan and a March 13 deadline to seek acceptance of the plan from creditors.

 

In a filing with the court, Delta asked to extend the deadlines 180 days to July 11 and Sept. 9, respectively.  Once an exclusivity period ends, creditors are allowed to submit reorganization plans to the court.  Delta had previously asked the court to reject its pilot contract so the airline could impose $325 million in concessions on its 6,000 pilots.  But Delta asked the court to suspend the company's contract rejection request because of a tentative agreement on temporary pay cuts worth as much as $152 million a year that the sides worked out earlier this month.

 

Full story at http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051223/BIZ01/512230357/1076/rss01

 

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From the 12/20/05 Cincinnati Post:

 

Analyst: Comair profits mislead

By Bob Driehaus

Post staff reporter

 

Delta Air Lines continues to bleed money, but its Northern Kentucky-based subsidiary Comair still managed to turn a profit through the first nine months of the year, according to the latest government figures.  Comair, the regional carrier headquartered at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, posted a $9.2 million profit in the third fiscal quarter that ended Sept. 30.  The numbers were filed with the Bureau of Transportation and released Monday.

 

The significance of the profit is less important than it appears, according to company officials and analysts.  Michael Boyd, an aviation industry analyst and president of the Boyd Group in Evergreen, Colo., said Comair is no leaner or more efficient than its parent company Delta.  The difference between Delta's huge losses - $194 million in the third quarter - and Comair's $9.2 million profit is that Comair is a carrier whose aircraft Delta leases and therefore doesn't have the overhead costs of operating a full-blown airline.

 

Full story at http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051220/NEWS01/512200356

 

They lost 11 Billion since 2001????????? I'm sorry but why even stay in business if you're going to lose money?? What was their traffic in 2000 compared to 2005?  Don't companies nkow they lost $1 why wait so long to change things until after you lost 11 billion????????????????????????

They lost 11 Billion since 2001????????? I'm sorry but why even stay in business if you're going to lose money?? What was their traffic in 2000 compared to 2005?  Don't companies nkow they lost $1 why wait so long to change things until after you lost 11 billion????????????????????????

 

As I said before, I said.....close them down.  The business model/plan sucks and other carriers will absorb the passengers.

Here's a related story that I didn't get around to posting...higher fees due to fewer flights (and, therefore, fewer people):

 

 

Airport to increase fees

Board projects fewer passengers and lower revenues

By John Eckberg

Enquirer staff writer

 

The likelihood of fewer Delta/Comair flights in 2006 will mean higher parking rates for travelers and a 37 percent increase in landing fees for major airlines at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.  The Kenton County Airport Board, which manages the Hebron airport, unanimously voted Monday on a 2006 budget of $107 million that:

 

- Increases the 24-hour parking rate from $11 to $12 in the covered garage and from $6 to $7 on the airport's open lot, while replacing free parking at the garage for the first 30 minutes with a $2 charge.

 

- Daylong parking at the airport remains well under the $24 a day charged in Lexington and $25 a day in Columbus.

 

- Raises landing fees by 37 percent for airlines such as Delta, Comair, American, United, USAir, Northwest and Continental. Total fees would reach a projected $18.1 million, $600,000 less than the $18.7 million raised in 2005.

 

- Projects restaurant and beverage revenue will fall about 22 percent from $5.3 million to $4.1 million and sales at gifts shops, newsstands and boutiques to decline by 31 percent from $4.2 million to $2.9 million.

 

Full story at http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051220/NEWS01/512200333/1056/rss02

 

From the 12/27/05 Cincinnati Post:

 

Delta blow lightened for airport

By Bob Driehaus

Post staff reporter

 

Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport will recover about $2 million of the $2.9 million in unpaid landing fees from Delta Air Lines and Comair as part of a negotiated settlement.  To pay off two-thirds of the debt, Delta and its Comair subsidiary will forfeit their portion of the airport's 2005 surplus they would have received under a previous agreement, said Wil Ziegler, airport attorney.

 

The airline and carrier will also give up the portion of concessions revenue they were due to receive from sales at Concourse B in Terminal 3, which Delta built and owns.  Delta and Comair racked up the $2.9 million debt when they stopped paying landing fees after Delta declared bankruptcy on Sept. 14.  Delta and Comair had already paid their landing fees through July when Delta declared bankruptcy, but they still owed the airport the fees for August and the first two weeks of September.

 

Full story at http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051227/NEWS01/512270345/1010/RSS01

 

From the 12/28/05 Enquirer:

 

Delta pilots end vote today on 14% pay cut

By James Pilcher

Enquirer staff writer

 

Delta Air Lines' pilot union will finish voting today on a proposed 14 percent temporary pay cut.  If the pilots accept, they will stave off the threat of a bankruptcy judge voiding an existing contract.  The interim agreement was reached early this month as a way to stop court proceedings that could have allowed the bankrupt company to impose its own rules.  That, in turn, could have allowed Delta's 6,000-plus pilots to strike.

 

The pilots, including nearly 800 based at Delta's second-largest hub at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, have until 3 p.m. today to vote by telephone, with the results to be released soon thereafter.  Terms of the deal have been in place since Dec. 15.  Delta filed for bankruptcy Sept. 14.

 

Full story at http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051228/BIZ01/512280307/1076/rss01

 

---

From same:

 

Comair's cuts go to pilot vote

Union OK's move after talks falter

By James Pilcher

Enquirer staff writer

 

ERLANGER - Comair's pilot union has agreed to put the company's pay and benefit cut proposal to a vote by the full membership after two months of talks failed to result in an agreement.  Details on the balloting have not been set. But the deal is worth $17.3 million a year and could mean pay cuts ranging from 9 percent to 19 percent, depending on seniority and other assignments.

 

The company's proposal, obtained by The Enquirer, would eliminate company contributions to the pilots' retirement plan, a benefit earned after the bitter 89-day strike of spring 2001. In addition, it would allow the company to lay off pilots and eliminate the "no furlough" clause as well as cut vacation time.

 

Full story at http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051228/BIZ01/512280304/1076/rss01

 

From the 12/29/05 Cincinnati Business Courier:

 

Delta reaches deal with pilots

 

Delta Air Lines said Wednesday its pilots ratified an interim agreement with the company that will reduce pilot cost by about $143 million a year.  The deal provides for a 14 percent hourly wage reduction and reductions in other pilot pay and cost items equivalent to approximately an additional 1 percent in pilot pay.  The Air Line Pilots Association International (ALPA) represents more than 6,000 Delta pilots.

 

Under the terms of the interim agreement, the company and ALPA pledged to negotiate a tentative comprehensive agreement by March 1, 2006, with pilot membership ratification by March 22, 2006.

 

Full story at http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2005/12/26/daily13.html?from_rss=1

 

From the 12/31/05 Enquirer:

 

Airport, Delta cut a deal

By James Pilcher

Enquirer staff writer

 

Delta Air Lines, the Kenton County Airport Board, and the holders of the debt on Delta's Terminal 3 facility at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport agreed late Friday to negotiate new terms over the next 60 days on the bankrupt airline's local leases.  In a three-party stipulation filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York, the three sides gave each other until March 1 to work out new and possibly lower terms that could help Delta restructure under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

 

If such an agreement had not been not reached, Delta could have rejected the leases with the airport for the land on which Terminal 3 sits as early as next month.  In addition, the carrier could have rejected the lease with the holders of $438 million in bonds that own the actual buildings that house the terminal and Concourses A and B.  Such rejections would have given control of the Terminal 3 gates to the airport, even though the airport is not liable for the bonds, only for the lost real estate lease revenue.

 

Full story at http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051231/BIZ01/512310336/1076/rss01

 

---

From the 12/30/05 Kentucky Post:

 

Despite cuts, Delta still rules at CVG

By Bob Driehaus

Post staff reporter

 

Delta Air Lines and its subsidiaries still rule the runways at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport despite a sharp reduction in flights the carrier implemented on Dec. 1.  Preliminary numbers from this month indicate that Delta operated 89.6 percent of commercial passenger flights, down just slightly from the 91 percent it operated in November.

 

The airline announced intentions to cut service by about 26 percent beginning Dec. 1, but the actual reduction of daily departures was about 24 percent compared to November - to 441 from 580, according to statistics compiled by the airport.  The other factor that kept Delta dominant was a 5 percent drop in flights operated by its competitors - to 51 flights, down three from November.  Overall, the number of daily departures dropped to 492 from 634 in November, a 22.4 percent decrease.

 

Full story at http://news.kypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051230/NEWS02/512300363/1014

 

CVG slips to 14th busiest in U.S.

By Bob Driehaus

Post staff reporter

 

Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport dropped three spots to rank as the 14th busiest airport in the country in 2005 as Delta Air Lines ramped down its operations and competitors declined to fill the gap.  The Federal Aviation Administration said the Hebron airport had 495,452 takeoffs and landings in 2005, down from 515,851 in 2004.

 

The reduction in flights reversed a trend of the last three years during which flights increased annually as the airport and the aviation industry in general bounced back from the 2001 terrorist attacks.  Barring an unforeseen surge in flights by Delta competitors or Delta itself, the number of flights this year at CVG will be even lower.  Delta implemented a plan to cut about 26 percent of its flights at the airport beginning Dec. 1, 2005, as part of its effort to reorganize and stem five years of massive financial losses.

 

Full story at http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060106/NEWS01/601060343&template=printpicart

From the 1/6/06 Enquirer:

 

Comair targets flight attendants

Airline may turn to bankruptcy judge

By James Pilcher

Enquirer staff writer

 

ERLANGER - Comair is not making "substantive progress" in concessions talks with its flight attendants union, and may look to a bankruptcy judge to cut those costs, the airline's top executive told workers in a memo Thursday.  Company president Fred Buttrell said that while it has made gains with its pilot and mechanic unions, negotiations with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents Comair's 1,100 flight attendants, have not gone as well.

 

Comair was included in the bankruptcy filing of corporate parent Delta Air Lines in September.  The Erlanger-based regional airline announced last fall that it was looking to cut about $27.2 million in labor costs annually, including $8.9 million from its flight attendants, as part of a plan to save $70 million a year.  Buttrell's statement could mean the company is prepared to ask the federal bankruptcy court in New York that is overseeing the reorganization of both Comair and Delta to void the flight attendant contract and allow management to impose its own terms.  Delta pursued that course with its pilots, but reached an interim deal last month that was approved by the union last week.

 

Full story at http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060106/BIZ01/601060406/1076/rss01

 

From the 1/7/06 Enquirer:

 

Union calls Comair arrogant

Flight attendants balk at pay cuts up to 26%

By James Pilcher, Enquirer staff writer

 

ERLANGER - Comair's flight attendant union Friday said it was "outrageous" for the company president to blame the union for a lack of progress in concession talks.  At the same time, new details emerged about the regional carrier's proposal. Specifically, management wants pay cuts of between 20 percent and nearly 26 percent, depending on seniority, according to a copy of the proposal obtained by The Enquirer.

 

In a statement to its 1,100 members, the local branch of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said that management has given no justification of the need for cuts the union says are worth up to $14 million to $15 million, including recent job reductions.  "On the contrary - they admit Comair is profitable," the message said.  "It has arrogantly put forward extreme proposals without any financial justification. It has repeatedly refused to provide any assurances of job protection. It has refused to even consider the counterproposals by your Union."

 

Full story at http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060107/BIZ01/601070332/1076/rss01

 

From the AP, 1/10/06:

 

New judge takes over Delta case

Overseer on medical leave

The Associated Press

 

ATLANTA - The judge overseeing Delta Air Lines' bankruptcy case, who had ruffled feathers among the company's pilots with comments about their high pay, is taking a two-month medical leave of absence.  Judge Prudence Carter Beatty, 63, is taking leave, and the Delta case has been reassigned to Judge Adlai Hardin, according to Dexter Gillies, assistant to the clerk of court in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

 

"It is for medical reasons," Gillies said Monday, but he would not detail the nature of the judge's medical problem.  Reached at her Manhattan home, Beatty declined to comment. 

 

Delta spokeswoman Chris Kelly said the airline doesn't expect its bankruptcy case to be delayed because of Beatty's leave.  Atlanta-based Delta, the nation's No. 3 airline, had already gotten a six-month extension until July 11 to file its reorganization plan.  Comair, the Erlanger-based regional airline that's wholly owned by Delta, is part of the bankruptcy case.

 

Full story at http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060110/BIZ/601100330/1076/rss01

 

Things will eventually pick back up.

From the 1/11/06 Enquirer:

 

Northwest, Delta combo mentioned

Transportation secretary says he's 'thinking out loud'

By James Pilcher

Enquirer staff writer

 

The nation's top transportation official Tuesday said Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines could merge in bankruptcy, breaking a long silence on the struggles of the domestic airline industry.  "I sometimes wonder whether or not ... Delta and Northwest will come out as a merged carrier," Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said during a question-and-answer session following a speech in Shanghai, China, according to Reuters.

 

Considered one of the architects of airline deregulation 27 years ago, Mineta has been fairly quiet on the airline industry's financial woes, although he did get involved in the 2001 Comair pilot strike, helping broker a settlement.  Transportation Department officials in Washington said no talks had taken place with government officials about a possible merger.  They also said Mineta's comments should not be seen as a sign that the department - which has blocked only one airline merger in recent years - has changed its policy toward consolidation.

 

Full story at http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060111/BIZ01/601110304/1076/rss01

 

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From same:

 

Merger? No way, say analysts

Analysis: Delta-Northwest combo unlikely

By James Pilcher

Enquirer staff writer

 

U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta may think Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines might merge as part of both carriers' bankruptcy restructuring.  But airline experts and insiders alike disagree strongly with the nation's top transportation official, who suggested that possibility Tuesday after a speech in Shanghai, according to the Reuters news service.  Such a partnership is highly unlikely, given the state of both companies and the industry as a whole, experts say.

 

"Two airlines in bankruptcy do not make one profitable airline outside of bankruptcy," said Mike Miller, a partner with The Velocity Group, a Washington-based aviation consulting firm. "If you are in bankruptcy, the last thing you want is a massive and expensive merger ... it would add as much stress as having to move your house at the same time you're getting married."

 

Still, there has been such speculation before. The two airlines filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection within 30 minutes of each other on Sept. 14 - and in the same court in New York City.  The two airlines are already marketing partners domestically and nationally, and Delta has previously courted and been courted by fellow marketing partner Continental Airlines.

 

Full story at http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060111/BIZ01/601110310/1076/rss01