The leaders of Comair say additional furloughs among crews may be unavoidable starting in September.
That’s when it’s parent company, Delta Air Lines, will reduce service by 17% at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport and also see reduced activity at JFK Airport in New York.
A total of 65% of Comair’s flights originate at JFK.
In an e-mail to the regional airline’s employees, President John Bendoraitis said it’s expected that the number of daily flights will be cut from 500 in August to 400 in September.
"We are continuing to assess the staffing impact of our fall schedule and are working to get more detailed information to our crews within the next two weeks," Comair’s Manager of Corporate Communications, Christine Wever, said in a statement.
Comair’s pilots belong to the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA). Union leaders met Tuesday with company officials.
In 2003 Comair had 1,800 pilots. Now, there are 1,100 and 300 others are on furlough.
Those are more signs of the turbulence surrounding the U.S. Airline industry – especially Delta.
In the past five years, Delta has gone through bankruptcy, reorganization, a merger with Northwest Airlines and endured higher fuel prices and the recession.
All that has had a considerable impact on Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) which in 2005 was Delta’s second largest hub behind Atlanta.
Now, there’s new competition for flights from former Northwest hubs in Detroit and Memphis.
John Mok, CVG’s new executive director, is the man charged with maintaining safety, security and the bottom line.
"It’s all about the economy," Mok said Tuesday. "Nothing more! Nothing less.!"
It’s quite a challenge.
For example, the number of daily departures was 673 in 2005, but will drop to 254 this fall. Non-stop service will be available to 83 cities in September, compared to 122 in 2005.
The number of passengers at CVG was 13.6 million in 2008, down from 22 million in 2005. The number of airport employees is down more than 4,500 in that same period.
For years, the airport has prided itself on international service to cities like Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London, Rome, Paris, Mexico City, Cancun, Punta Cana, Montreal, Toronto and Nassau.
After September 1, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London and Rome won’t be on the schedule.
"Delta is continuing to right-size operations," Mok said.
He acknowledged the number of transfer passengers at CVG is down considerably, but pointed out that others are flying out of Hebron more frequently now that fares have been lowered.
As revenues have declined, the airport has been in a hiring freeze and has consolidated operations to trim expenses.
However, Mok said safety and security have been maintained. He added the airport is also taking to other carriers about coming here.
"We like to look at it as we’ve got a big sandbox here and we want others to come play in our sandbox," he said.
Looking ahead, Mok said air travel will continue to lag until the economy rebounds and people have more disposable income.
"We will be here. We may be different, but we will adapt and we will succeed," he added.
