Regional Carrier Announces Q4 Loss Of $62.2 Million
Mesa Air Group pilots,
represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, Int'l (ALPA), began
expedited negotiations with management last week -- ahead of the
airline's announcement Monday of an operating loss of $62.2 million
in the fourth quarter of 2007.
ALPA notes that prior to beginning negotiations, union leaders
called on the carrier to address pilot staffing and morale issues
that have reached critical levels and are negatively impacting Mesa
operations.
The union claims over 500 pilots left Mesa last year alone,
causing flight delays and cancellations. Many of those pilots left
to accept similar pilot positions at other "regional" airlines that
offered higher pay, better benefits and/or superior pilot work
rules.
"Time is of the essence to turn around our operations, address
pilots' considerable concerns and improve the level of service to
passengers and codeshare partners," said Captain Michael Jayson, a
14-year employee and chairman of the ALPA unit at Mesa. "After our
first week of face-to-face negotiations, we are encouraged by
management's willingness to tackle the tough issues and make
changes to significantly improve our contract so that our pilots
will want to continue to fly for Mesa."
"The Mesa pilots have the full support of our international
union and the 60,000 members we represent," said ALPA President
Captain John Prater, who met with ALPA leaders this week in Phoenix
to support the Mesa pilots' negotiations and discuss bargaining and
consolidation issues across the industry. "While we hope that
management continues negotiating in good faith, we are fully
prepared to use all legal avenues available to ensure that the
pilots at Mesa are successful in achieving their goal of a
significantly improved contract with better work rules, benefits,
and pay."
Mesa flies as Delta Connection, US Airways Express, United
Express, go!, and Mesa Airlines. The airline attributed its
lackluster Q4 financial performance on a number of factors,
including a decrease in capacity. In a release Monday, Mesa also
reported a pre-tax charge of $86.9 million related to its recent
court loss concerning litigation brought forth by Hawaiian
Airlines, concerning Mesa's go! startup.
As ANN reported, a US
Bankruptcy Court judge ruled last October Mesa illegally used
confidential information obtained from Hawaiian to launch its
interisland airline... and ordered the airline to cough up $80
million. Mesa notes that litigation is under appeal.