Some US Airways' jobs will be moved to Phoenix
By Rick Stouffer
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, February 23, 2007
Eight to 10 US Airways' employees received news Wednesday their jobs are moving to Phoenix -- on the day the airline officially named Pittsburgh winner of a new $25 million flight operations center.
The positions were left over from a decision before the US Airways-America West merger by the "old" US Airways management to relocate the airline's flight training operations to Charlotte from Pittsburgh, said spokesman Phil Gee. About 130 positions were involved in that relocation.
"When the flight training center was moved, eight to 10 in-flight training jobs stayed, to be relocated later," Gee said. "Then, when we merged (America West with US Airways in September 2005), we determined we would leave the jobs in Pittsburgh until the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) approved our single operating certificate. That is expected in May or June."
FAA approval of a single operating certificate will allow US Airways to merge all flight operations and run them as one airline.
The training jobs will move to a fight training center in Phoenix, Gee said. He added that a majority of the administrative positions will relocate by June 30, with a "couple" not leaving Pittsburgh until the end of the year.
With the announcement Wednesday that the new consolidated flight operations center will be built here, 450 jobs with pay averaging about $50,000 annually will be retained and an additional 150 jobs will be added once the new center opens. The single-story building about the size of a football field will be located on a 10-acre tract southeast of Pittsburgh International Airport and will open by spring 2009.
"We don't believe this is in any way related to the flight operations announcement, and we don't believe it's proper to comment on what appears to be an internal job positioning move," said Shawn Bannon, a spokesman for the Allegheny Conference for Community Development, speaking for CEO Michael Langley. The conference has been actively working to restore airline service lost locally with the downsizing of US Airways.
From 2001 to 2006, US Airways' daily flights out of Pittsburgh International dropped to 164 from a peak of more than 500, while more than 9,000 jobs were lost. Current employment stands at about 2,900.
Rick Stouffer can be reached at [email protected].
By Rick Stouffer
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, February 23, 2007
Eight to 10 US Airways' employees received news Wednesday their jobs are moving to Phoenix -- on the day the airline officially named Pittsburgh winner of a new $25 million flight operations center.
The positions were left over from a decision before the US Airways-America West merger by the "old" US Airways management to relocate the airline's flight training operations to Charlotte from Pittsburgh, said spokesman Phil Gee. About 130 positions were involved in that relocation.
"When the flight training center was moved, eight to 10 in-flight training jobs stayed, to be relocated later," Gee said. "Then, when we merged (America West with US Airways in September 2005), we determined we would leave the jobs in Pittsburgh until the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) approved our single operating certificate. That is expected in May or June."
FAA approval of a single operating certificate will allow US Airways to merge all flight operations and run them as one airline.
The training jobs will move to a fight training center in Phoenix, Gee said. He added that a majority of the administrative positions will relocate by June 30, with a "couple" not leaving Pittsburgh until the end of the year.
With the announcement Wednesday that the new consolidated flight operations center will be built here, 450 jobs with pay averaging about $50,000 annually will be retained and an additional 150 jobs will be added once the new center opens. The single-story building about the size of a football field will be located on a 10-acre tract southeast of Pittsburgh International Airport and will open by spring 2009.
"We don't believe this is in any way related to the flight operations announcement, and we don't believe it's proper to comment on what appears to be an internal job positioning move," said Shawn Bannon, a spokesman for the Allegheny Conference for Community Development, speaking for CEO Michael Langley. The conference has been actively working to restore airline service lost locally with the downsizing of US Airways.
From 2001 to 2006, US Airways' daily flights out of Pittsburgh International dropped to 164 from a peak of more than 500, while more than 9,000 jobs were lost. Current employment stands at about 2,900.
Rick Stouffer can be reached at [email protected].
