More sad Midwest news...
03-19-2009, 07:26 AM
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More sad Midwest news...
Midwest suspends plans to rehire flight crews - JSOnline
Midwest suspends plans to hire back flight crews
By Tom Daykin of the Journal Sentinel
Posted: Mar. 18, 2009 11:42 a.m.
Midwest Airlines Inc. has suspended plans to hire back laid-off flight crews to operate regional jets the carrier began using last fall.
In September, Midwest hired Indianapolis-based Republic Airways Holdings Inc. (RJET) to operate Midwest Connect flights previously flown under the Midwest Airlines name. The move came after Republic agreed to provide up to $25 million in financing to Midwest, which helped prevent a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.
In hiring Republic, Oak Creek-based Midwest laid off over 200 employees, including union pilots and flight attendants. Midwest said it would rehire the flight crews after they're trained to staff the Republic jets, but only if they accepted substantial pay cuts.
The unions have balked at that demand, so Midwest has suspended plans to train the pilots on flying the Embraer 170 jets, company spokesman Michael Brophy said. Those wage cuts are needed for Midwest to compete effectively, he said.
"Given the state of the economy, and the fact that we have not been able to secure a market-competitive cost structure, we have elected to stop the process," said a company memo to employees.
The pilots union doesn't agree with that decision, said Brian Jandorf, spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association's Midwest chapter. He declined to comment further.
An official from the Association of Flight Attendants couldn't be reached for comment.
The unions have requested mediation in their contract talks with Midwest. No further contract talks have been scheduled yet, Jandorf said.
Arbitrators ruled in January that Midwest's hiring of Republic did not violate the company's labor agreements with the pilots and flight attendants unions.
Republic flies a dozen Embraer 170 jets, each with 76 seats, under the Midwest Connect name. Midwest Airlines also contracts with St. George, Utah-based SkyWest Inc. (SKYW) to operate a dozen Bombardier CRJ200 50-seat regional jets under the Midwest Connect name.
Midwest Airlines operates nine 99-seat Boeing 717 jets, which use union pilots and flight attendants.
Midwest suspends plans to hire back flight crews
By Tom Daykin of the Journal Sentinel
Posted: Mar. 18, 2009 11:42 a.m.
Midwest Airlines Inc. has suspended plans to hire back laid-off flight crews to operate regional jets the carrier began using last fall.
In September, Midwest hired Indianapolis-based Republic Airways Holdings Inc. (RJET) to operate Midwest Connect flights previously flown under the Midwest Airlines name. The move came after Republic agreed to provide up to $25 million in financing to Midwest, which helped prevent a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.
In hiring Republic, Oak Creek-based Midwest laid off over 200 employees, including union pilots and flight attendants. Midwest said it would rehire the flight crews after they're trained to staff the Republic jets, but only if they accepted substantial pay cuts.
The unions have balked at that demand, so Midwest has suspended plans to train the pilots on flying the Embraer 170 jets, company spokesman Michael Brophy said. Those wage cuts are needed for Midwest to compete effectively, he said.
"Given the state of the economy, and the fact that we have not been able to secure a market-competitive cost structure, we have elected to stop the process," said a company memo to employees.
The pilots union doesn't agree with that decision, said Brian Jandorf, spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association's Midwest chapter. He declined to comment further.
An official from the Association of Flight Attendants couldn't be reached for comment.
The unions have requested mediation in their contract talks with Midwest. No further contract talks have been scheduled yet, Jandorf said.
Arbitrators ruled in January that Midwest's hiring of Republic did not violate the company's labor agreements with the pilots and flight attendants unions.
Republic flies a dozen Embraer 170 jets, each with 76 seats, under the Midwest Connect name. Midwest Airlines also contracts with St. George, Utah-based SkyWest Inc. (SKYW) to operate a dozen Bombardier CRJ200 50-seat regional jets under the Midwest Connect name.
Midwest Airlines operates nine 99-seat Boeing 717 jets, which use union pilots and flight attendants.
03-19-2009, 08:14 AM
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03-19-2009, 08:20 AM
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03-19-2009, 09:16 AM
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Midwest Airlines Inc. has suspended plans to hire back laid-off flight crews to operate regional jets the carrier began using last fall.
In hiring Republic, Oak Creek-based Midwest laid off over 200 employees, including union pilots and flight attendants. Midwest said it would rehire the flight crews after they're trained to staff the Republic jets, but only if they accepted substantial pay cuts.
03-19-2009, 09:18 AM
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I love it when people talk openly about crossing picket lines, whether legally or not, it's still painfully unethical.
03-19-2009, 09:29 AM
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Deltas plan is working... put Midwest/AirTran out of business and takeover Milwaukee for $450,000. I hope they don't have a bigger plan in the works (eg. building a low-cost 100 seat airline) because this one is working very smooth.
03-19-2009, 09:39 AM
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But, as is common when airline managers concentrate their efforts on something other than running an airline, AirTran is thanking their lucky stars NWA management stepped in and saved them.
AirTran's cash would have went below zero in summer 08 if they had bought MidWest. NWA literally saved them.
Good money, bad money. Midwest Airlines, which used to be Midwest Express and is sometimes dubbed the bottomless money pit of Milwaukee, has saved itself from bankruptcy with yet another investment by TPG, the Texas Pacific Group. It's about $30 million. What's different this time is that it's lured another airline, Republic Airways, into putting money into its future, even though the last airline it won over, Northwest Airlines, had to write off all of its $213-million investment in Midwest (for a 47% stake). Republic puts in $15 million in a one-year loan, and agrees to another $10 million if Midwest meets some performance criteria. But Republic also gets a home for the dozen 76-seat Embraers it has been trying to place since it had to take them back from Frontier (which hasn't avoided bankruptcy) in late June.
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