By James Pilcher
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Comair's pilots union has rejected management's request to renegotiate its contract to lower costs and possibly get more jets, saying company officials were not giving the union enough time to work through the issues at hand.

"What we have said is that there are no near talks for the future, and no more are scheduled," J.C. Lawson III, chairman of the Erlanger-based airline's 1,800-member branch of the Air Line Pilots Association, said Monday.

The union's nine-member executive committee made the decision, announced to its members and management late Friday, after consulting the rank and file, Lawson said. He added, "It has to do with the time frame being too condensed. We cannot operate in this narrow time frame."

Earlier this month, Comair had asked its pilots and flight attendants to redo their contracts to lower costs so it could become more competitive with other regional carriers and possibly receive some of the 23 70-seat regional jets that parent company Delta Air Lines has on order for next year. Delta officials have said that they will allocate those planes to its regional subsidiaries and affiliates with the lowest costs.

The company also said it was hoping to get the concessions, including possible pay cuts, within a month.

The request came almost 21/2 years after the pilots conducted an 89-day strike that almost killed the company. It resulted in a five-year contract that made them the highest paid among regional airlines. In addition, the flight attendants just signed a five-year contract in July 2002. Neither was required to reopen their contracts

Talks are also off with the flight attendants, officials with both the company and the local branch of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents the airline's 950 flight attendants, said Monday. They said the pilots' decision made the issue moot.

Comair spokesman Nick Miller would not comment on the pilots' decision or on any impact to Comair's ability to get new planes from Delta.

But in a memo issued Friday to employees and obtained Monday by the Enquirer, Comair president Randy Rademacher said he was "disappointed that we're unable to move forward on discussions with our pilots at this crucial time and concerned that we could not seize the growth opportunity that was immediately before us."

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E-mail jpilcher@enquirer.com