January 9 Airline News

C

chipmunn

Guest
[SPAN class=t][STRONG][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3]Airlines ask Congress for Help[/FONT][/STRONG][/SPAN][BR][BR][SPAN class=t][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3]WASHINGTON (Washington Post) - The nation's major airlines are pleading for more government help. The heads of three of the nation's largest airlines are asking Congress to cut airline-ticket taxes and provide more money for additional security costs.[/NITF] [/FONT][BR][BR][NITF][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3]The head of U.S. Airways, David Siegel, says this economic recession is far different than any other since the nation is waging the war on terrorism. So he believes further help is justified.[/NITF] [/FONT][/SPAN][BR][BR][SPAN class=t][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3]Complete Story: [/FONT][A target=_blank href=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33868-2003Jan9.html][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3][A href=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33868-2003Jan9.htmlCongress]http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33868-2003Jan9.html[/FONT][/A][BR][/SPAN][SPAN class=t][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3][SPAN class=t][STRONG][BR]Congress[/STRONG][/A][STRONG]: Intransigent Government Board, Crushing Taxes and Security Costs Strangle Airlines[/STRONG][/SPAN][/FONT][BR][BR][SPAN class=t][/SPAN][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3]WASHINGTON (PRNewswire) - The head of the nation's largest pilots' union today told a Senate committee that the airline industry is being slowly strangled by a combination of crushing taxes and security costs, plus the refusal of the Air Transportation Stabilization Board (ATSB) to provide relief mandated by Congress to help airlines in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.[/FONT][BR][BR][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3]Complete Story: [/FONT][A target=_blank href=http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030109/dcth016_1.html][FONT face=Times New Roman color=#0000ff size=3]http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030109/dcth016_1.html[/FONT][/A][BR][BR][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3][STRONG]McCain To Eye RLA As Part Of Aviation Business Hearing[BR][BR][/STRONG]WASHINGTON (Aviation Daily) - Commerce Committee Chair Sen. John McCain (RAriz.) plans to look at changes in the way airline unions and management negotiate as part of a hearing today on the state of the airline industry.[BR][BR]McCain told The DAILY yesterday that incoming aviation subcommittee Chair Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) will likely take up the issue as well.[BR][BR]Lott this week was named subcommittee chair over Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), who had held the position before the Senate switched to a Democratic majority in the 107th Congress (DAILY, Jan. 8). McCain said seniority determined the assignments and he did not have any say in the decision to install Lott in Hutchison’s place.[BR][BR]McCain’s bill — the Airline Labor Dispute Resolution Act (S.1327) - is based on baseball arbitration, a concept airline labor opposes. He said he does not intend to change the RLA, under which unions and management now operate. “We will be looking at the state of labor negotiations and it will be one question on the state of the airline industry,†he said.[BR][BR]Witnesses at today’s Commerce Committee hearing include Jeffrey Shane, DOT Associate Deputy Secretary, American CEO Donald Carty, Northwest CEO Richard Anderson, US Airways CEO David Siegel, Alfred Kahn, Air Line Pilots Association President Duane Woerth and Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travelers Coalition. McCain said the committee is looking for their “assessment of the present state and future of the airline industry, so we can determine what actions need to be taken†to keep the rest of the industry from going bankrupt.[BR][BR]Woerth plans in his testimony to echo industry’s recent calls for airline tax and security cost relief, but he will also criticize “labor bashing†from “certain elements†of the airline industry. Woerth said the industry’s condition “is not our fault and it’s not any employee group’s fault.†He also plans to testify that Congress must extend benefits for laid-off workers and take action to preserve pensions if the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. is unwilling to do so.[BR][BR]McCain, who noted Congress is obligated to step in, given the industry’s dire condition, said he does not see Congress granting any more bailout funds to airlines. Any further assistance would come in the form of tax relief. “There will be no legislation passed without thorough ventilation, debate and scrutiny,†he said.[/FONT][BR][BR][STRONG][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3]United's machinists last holdouts to emergency pay cuts in bid to emerge from bankruptcy [/FONT][BR][BR][/STRONG][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3]CHICAGO (AP) - United Airlines has gained approval from four of its five unions for emergency pay cuts as it tries to emerge from bankruptcy. Now it's counting on a judge to order the participation of the only holdouts: its machinists. [/FONT][BR][BR][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3]Complete Story: [/FONT][A target=_blank href=http://www.nj.com/newsflash/national/index.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?a0444_BC_UnitedAirlines&&news&newsflash-national][FONT face=Times New Roman color=#0000ff size=3]http://www.nj.com/newsflash/national/index.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?a0444_BC_UnitedAirlines&&news&newsflash-national[/FONT][/A][BR][BR][STRONG][SPAN class=t][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3]United Airlines Begins Search for Executive Vice President - Customer[/FONT][/SPAN][BR][BR][/STRONG][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3][SPAN class=t]CHICAGO (PRNewswire-FirstCall) - United Airlines announced today that it has retained the services of Heidrick & Struggles to conduct a nationwide search for candidates to serve as United's Executive Vice President - Customer.[/SPAN][/FONT][BR][BR][FONT face=Times New Roman][SPAN class=t][FONT size=3]Complete Story: [/FONT][A target=_blank href=http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030109/cgth061_1.html][FONT color=#0000ff size=3]http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030109/cgth061_1.html[/FONT][/A][/SPAN][/FONT][BR][BR][FONT face=Times New Roman][SPAN class=t][FONT size=3][STRONG]Chip comments: [/STRONG]I find it interesting that UAL issued a press release to tell the public it has retained a head hunting firm to hire a senior execuitve. I have never seen a press release issued by a company advertising its efforts to hire an individual, except during a CEO change. If you had confidence in your company and believed people would want to work in your organization, why tell the world in a press release you have hired a head hunter? In addition, if you're bleeding cash at an enormous rate, why do you need to pay Heidrick & Struggles to find a qualified candidate, unless you cannot do the job yourself?[/FONT][/SPAN][/FONT][BR][BR][STRONG][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3][SPAN class=t][SPAN class=t]Merger Talk: United, buyout firms in heated game of poker[/SPAN][/SPAN][/FONT][BR][BR][/STRONG][SPAN class=t][SPAN class=t][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3]NEW YORK (Reuters) - United Airlines and some of America's biggest buyout firms are playing a high altitude game of bluff and double-bluff. [/FONT][BR][BR][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3]Buyout firms, sometimes criticized as vultures hungrily circling corporate wreckage, say the nation's No. 2 carrier needs their money and expertise now to avoid being dispatched to an airline graveyard that grows each year.[/FONT][BR][BR][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3]Complete Story: [/FONT][A target=_blank href=http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/030109/column_mergers_1.html][FONT face=Times New Roman color=#0000ff size=3]http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/030109/column_mergers_1.html[/FONT][/A][BR][BR][STRONG][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3]United Airlines IAM Bankruptcy Update - January 8, 2002[BR][/FONT][/STRONG][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3][BR]The membership of ALPA, AFA, TWU and PAFCA have each ratified United Airline's proposed emergency temporary wage reductions, retroactive to January 1, 2003. As a result of these ratified temporary agreements, United's application requesting bankruptcy judge Eugene Wedoff to impose temporary 13 percent wage reductions, retroactive to January 1, 2003, on IAM-represented employees will go forward.[BR][BR]The IAM filed its objection to the temporary wage reductions on December 31, 2002. United has said it will submit to the court a formal response to the IAM's objection, and a decision is expected by Judge Wedoff by January 10.[BR][BR]Negotiations between both IAM Districts 141 & 141-M and United Airlines continue in Chicago, IL for the purpose of reaching a voluntary resolution to United's need for long term cost reductions. No discussions on United's proposal for temporary cost reductions are taking place. [/FONT][BR][BR][STRONG][SPAN class=t][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3]Delta Air Lines Provides Information on Its Job Reduction Program[/FONT][/SPAN][BR][BR][/STRONG][SPAN class=t][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3]ATLANTA (PRNewswire-FirstCall) - In October 2002, Delta announced it intended to reduce between 7,000 and 8,000 jobs from its workforce. Approximately 3,900 jobs will be reduced through voluntary programs. Up to an additional 4,000 jobs are expected to be reduced through involuntary programs. Most of these job reductions will be completed by May 1, 2003. The total cost of the job reduction program is estimated to be approximately $175 million, pretax. Delta will recognize $125 million of this amount as a one-time charge in the fourth quarter 2002 and the remaining $50 million in the March 2003 quarter.[/FONT][/SPAN][BR][BR][SPAN class=t][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3]Complete Story: [/FONT][A href=http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030109/atth024_1.html][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3]http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030109/atth024_1.html[/FONT][/A][/SPAN][BR][BR][/SPAN][/SPAN][STRONG][FONT face=Times New Roman][FONT size=3]Turboprop crash kills 21 at airport in North Carolina - [FONT id=subhead]Investigators don't suspect foul play[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][BR][BR][/STRONG][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3]CHICAGO (Chicago Tribune) - A US Airways Express commuter aircraft departing Charlotte-Douglas Airport with 19 passengers and a crew of two plunged into a maintenance hangar Wednesday, killing all aboard.[BR][BR]Seconds before the crash, witnesses said, the twin engines of the Beechcraft 1900 turboprop made sputtering noises as it climbed several hundred feet, then flipped and plummeted into the edge of a US Airways hangar.[/FONT][BR][BR][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3]Complete Story: [/FONT][A target=_blank href=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0301090347jan09,1,5649789.story?coll=chi%2Dnewsnationworld%2Dhed][FONT face=Times New Roman color=#0000ff size=3]http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0301090347jan09,1,5649789.story?coll=chi%2Dnewsnationworld%2Dhed[/FONT][/A][BR][BR][STRONG][SPAN class=headline][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3]Commuter plane crash kills 21 at Charlotte/Douglas[/FONT][/SPAN][BR][BR][/STRONG][SPAN class=headline][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3]CHARLOTTE (Charlotte Observer) - A US Airways commuter plane corkscrewed into the earth outside a hangar at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport on Wednesday, exploding in a fireball that killed all 21 aboard.[/FONT][/SPAN][BR][BR][SPAN class=headline][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3]Complete Story: [/FONT][A target=_blank href=http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/4900214.htm][FONT face=Times New Roman color=#0000ff size=3]http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/4900214.htm[/FONT][/A][/SPAN][BR][BR][SPAN class=headline][STRONG][FONT face=Times New Roman color=#333333 size=3]Mesa Crash Occurred After Part Controlling Movement Replaced[/FONT][/STRONG][FONT size=-1][SPAN][BR][/SPAN][/FONT][BR][FONT face=Times New Roman][FONT size=3]CHARLOTTE (Bloomberg) - A Mesa Air Group Inc. plane- tail part was replaced in the aircraft that crashed a day later in Charlotte, the National Transportation Safety Board said.[BR][BR]Complete Story[FONT color=#0000ff]: [/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][A href=http://quote.bloomberg.com/fgcgi.cgi?T=marketsquote99_relnews.ht&s=APh4HIhYNTWVzYSBD][FONT face=Times New Roman color=#0000ff size=3]http://quote.bloomberg.com/fgcgi.cgi?T=marketsquote99_relnews.ht&s=APh4HIhYNTWVzYSBD[/FONT][/A][BR][BR][/SPAN][SPAN class=headline][FONT face=Times New Roman color=#333333 size=3][STRONG]US Airways, United May Be Hindered By Crash, Journal Reports[/STRONG][/FONT][/SPAN][SPAN class=headline][BR][BR][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3]CHARLOTTE (Bloomberg) - US Airways Group Inc. and UAL Corp. may be hurt by passenger fears of flying on airlines in bankruptcy after yesterday's crash of a US Airways commuter jet in Charlotte, the Wall Street Journal reported.[/FONT][BR][BR][FONT face=Times New Roman][FONT size=3]Complete Story: [/FONT][A target=_blank href=http://quote.bloomberg.com/fgcgi.cgi?T=marketsquote99_relnews.ht&s=APh1oRhTQVVMgQWly][FONT color=#0000ff size=3]http://quote.bloomberg.com/fgcgi.cgi?T=marketsquote99_relnews.ht&s=APh1oRhTQVVMgQWly[/FONT][/A][/FONT][BR][BR][STRONG][FONT face=Times New Roman][FONT size=3]Fatal N.C. airplane crash not expected to hurt US Airways [/FONT][/FONT][BR][BR][/STRONG][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3]PITTSBURGH (Tribune Review) - The fatal crash of a US Airways Express affiliate's airplane in North Carolina might dissuade travelers from boarding turboprop planes, but probably won't steer them away from booking on US Airways, air travel experts said Wednesday. [/FONT][BR][BR][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3]Complete Story: [/FONT][A target=_blank href=http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/business/s_111855.html][FONT face=Times New Roman color=#0000ff size=3]http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/business/s_111855.html[/FONT][/A][BR][BR][STRONG][SPAN class=t][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3]Second Big Vote Looms for US Air Unions[/FONT][/SPAN][BR][BR][/STRONG][SPAN class=t][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3]NEW YORK (Reuters) - Three of US Airways Group Inc.'s biggest labor unions will vote on a new wave of wage and benefit cuts on Friday, under threat of losing their jobs if the bankrupt airline is forced to liquidate because of sagging business and its heavy cost load.[/FONT][/SPAN][BR][BR][SPAN][SPAN class=t][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3]Complete Story: [/FONT][/SPAN][A target=_blank href=http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/030109/airlines_usairways_unions_2.html][FONT face=Times New Roman color=#0000ff size=3]ttp://biz.yahoo.com/rb/030109/airlines_usairways_unions_2.html[/FONT][/A][BR][FONT face=Times New Roman color=#000000 size=3][STRONG][BR]MEC CODE-A-PHONE UPDATE - J[/STRONG][/FONT][FONT color=#000000 size=3][FONT face=Times New Roman][STRONG]anuary 9, 2003[BR][/STRONG][/FONT][/FONT][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3][BR]Item 1. Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum attempted to introduce a bill by unanimous consent into the U.S. Senate this evening, which was co-sponsored by Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter. This senate bill sought a legislative solution to allow the Company to spread out 3.1 billion dollars in funding requirements to the US Airways employee pension plans for over 30 years, instead of seven years, which is the current term. This special legislation would have clarified the Pension Benefits Guaranty Corporation’s authority and required it to approve the restoration funding. The bill was not accepted because of objections by two senators. This legislation must now be introduced through other appropriate legislative channels. ALPA is continuing to work with government officials and US Airways on a legislative solution to the pension plan issue.[/FONT][BR][BR][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3]Item 2. MEC grievance 03-01-01 was filed yesterday on the Computation of Hours for Pay Purposes. The Company has unilaterally and arbitrarily changed the method of computing the hours of work for pay purposes in violation of past practice and Sections 3, 12 and 25 of the US Airways Pilots Working Agreement. Specifically, the Company is now utilizing motion of the aircraft as the basis for determining hours of work for pay purposes and for the recording of flight time to determine flight legality issues under the Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs). The Company has unilaterally and arbitrarily changed the method of recording block time by requiring actual movement of the aircraft to trip the computation of time, thereby adversely affecting pilots’ compensation and violating the FARs.[/FONT][BR][BR][FONT face=Times New Roman size=3]The Grievance Committee would appreciate your help by providing examples of ACARS transmitting erroneous times. Aircraft with paper copies of ACARS time data that is different that CATCREW screen data should be forwarded to the Grievance Committee immediately.[/FONT][BR][BR][BR][BR]
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