Strike cancels 800 Comair flights Problems ‘minimal’ at BIA

BANGOR – Despite a strike by Comair’s more than 1,300 pilots, officials at the airline and Bangor International Airport said Monday that the company’s roughly 120 passengers scheduled to fly out of Bangor that day had been placed on flights with other airlines.

Comair, a regional airline owned by Delta Air Lines, has been entangled in a contract dispute with its pilots since 1998. The pilots’ union approved a strike Sunday after negotiations regarding pay, retirement and work scheduling issues broke down. Nationwide, the strike action canceled roughly 800 flights to more than 95 U.S. cities.

The action was approved by more than 99 percent of the Airline Pilots Association’s voting members.

Jeff Russell, marketing director for BIA, said Monday that many of the airline’s passengers had been provided seats on other airlines. Other passengers, he said, opted to reschedule their flights for later dates. All in all, Russell said, the Comair staff at the ticket counter reported little difficulty finding seats for passengers.

“The Comair staff has been absolutely superb at getting people rebooked on other flights,” Russell said. “The inconvenience has been minimal, and in some cases the rerouting has been more direct than the original scheduling.”

Nancy Cisneros, a spokeswoman for Comair, said the airline has been trying to contact passengers in the late afternoon the day before their flights to begin the process of making new travel arrangements. Those efforts, she said, had placed about 85 percent of Comair’s passengers with other airlines, including Delta, Comair’s parent company. The remaining people, she said, were rebooked at the airport or offered a refund if their travel plans were flexible.

Passengers rerouted out of Bangor could be sent to Boston on an American Eagle flight, where they would then be transferred to Delta for transportation to their final destination. The specifics of any modified travel arrangements vary with each passenger’s itinerary, Cisneros said.

Cisneros said the airline was doing everything it could to minimize the effect of the strike on Comair passengers. “The company is taking a proactive approach on this,” Cisneros said. “We’re trying to call passengers in advance. The company is also willing to refund tickets for the person who may be a little nervous.”

Cisneros said the airline is viewing the strike on a day-by-day basis, hoping that negotiations will soon resume and bring an end to the strike. As each day of the strike passes, Cisneros said the company would cancel the next day’s flights and begin calling passengers to alter their travel plans.

Ticketed passengers who haven’t been contacted by the airline the evening prior to their flight should call (800) 354-9822. The company’s Web site, www.comair.com, also provides information on the status of flights, Cisneros said.

Cisneros said there was no word from ALPA on Monday regarding the possible resumption of negotiations. “The company is willing and eager to get back to the bargaining table and start negotiating,” Cisneros said. “We’re taking everything a day at a time.”

Comair reportedly offered a package of $100,000 per year for senior pilots and a 142 percent raise for first officers. Both classes of pilots also were offered an enhanced 401k program and bulk payments for time worked under the old contract. Some Comair pilots currently earn about $30,000 per year, union officials said.

Neither side of the labor dispute was willing to divulge the full details of the current pay scale nor what kinds of packages they are seeking through negotiations.

Jim Evans, an ALPA spokesman, said Monday that Comair’s offer amounted to a pay scale and benefits package similar to those of a regional airline. Comair pilots, Evans said, can leave Bangor in the morning and spend their evening in Mexico. “I’m not sure what region that is supposed to be,” Evans said.

Comair officials have maintained that they are a regional airline and therefore can’t justify paying their pilots salaries similar to those of American, United or Delta airlines.

Evans, however, said Comair is, per capita, the most profitable airline in the world, and Comair can well afford to pay its pilots more money. “The slogan we are using is ‘get real,'” Evans said. “We are a real airline, we’re real pilots, and we want a real compensation and benefits package.”

Evans said ALPA officials made an offer Friday that they thought would be a starting point to weekend negotiations aimed at averting a strike. Evans said he couldn’t disclose the exact terms of the proposal, but said it included higher pay, additional rest and safety periods and the allowance of more down time to be spent with families rather than overnight layovers in regional cities.

Evans said the striking Comair pilots are anxious to get a new contract and get back to work, but they are committed to securing a better contract than what has been offered. “We’re looking forward to settling this quickly,” Evans said. “But we have prepared ourselves for a good long fight.”

Peter Ramsay, spokesman for Main 1 Travel in Bangor, said Monday that the airline had, in fact, taken care of most of their passengers at BIA with little trouble. Yet the travel agent said that as the strike drags on, there could be layoffs of Comair employees who clean and maintain planes, handle baggage or perform the catering services. “You only need a small work force to maintain a plane that is sitting,” Ramsay said.

Ramsay said airlines have been known to reduce the number of flights in and out of a city during a strike. Once the strike is over, those flights are not replaced, Ramsay said. “This does give them the opportunity to sneak out of some markets that Delta has always wanted to leave,” said Ramsay, who added that Comair has already reduced its number of flights out of Bangor. The airline originally said it would provide five daily flights, Ramsay said, but never offered more than four. Later, the airline cut that number to three daily flights.