Monday, June 25, 2001
Comair, pilots apologize in ad
The Associated Press
Comair and its pilots are going back to work, starting with a public relations campaign to win back customers.
The airline and the pilots placed a full-page advertisement in The Cincinnati Enquirer on Sunday apologizing for the nearly three-month long strike and pledged to restore consumer confidence.
“As airline professionals, we are committed to returning to the air over the coming weeks to provide you with the best service possible,” the ad read. “We realize we must regain your support and trust, and we are committed to doing that together.”
Pilots shut down the nation's second-largest regional carrier with a March 26 walkout. On Friday, members of the Comair chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association ratified a new five-year contract with a 733-408 vote.
About 1,200 pilots were back on the payroll Sunday. They will be called back for training and for work as Comair needs them. Nearly 1,300 of the 2,400 non-pilot employees who had been laid off during the strike will be recalled during the next four to five weeks, Comair said.
“I attended a four-hour orientation class today,” pilot Sandy Hammons said Sunday. “Tomorrow I start two days of ground school, then take my check ride. It's a very involved process to get myself back.”
Comair plans to put 10 planes in service July 2, with flights to 26 cities. Before the strike, Comair's fleet of 119 planes carried 25,000 passengers a day to 95 cities in the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Bahamas.
Comair, which is owned by Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines, is headquartered at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport and operates a hub at Orlando, Fla.
Company president Randy Rademacher said 50 planes should be in service by the end of July, and expects Comair to return to most of its former markets by December. However, it could be late 2002 before Comair has the number of planes and markets it had before the strike.
As the company brings back workers who were laid off, union and company officials expect some tension.
“It's not going bother me, but I'm sure there will be some upset people,” said Jim Stone, 58, a ramp worker among those laid off May 14. “I know some people who lost some things because they couldn't keep up the payments. But a strike is like a war. There's no real winner, just a lot of collateral damage.”
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