A discussion about the airline industry, airline employees, and all things related

Flying Northwest Airlines today?

If so, there's a pretty good chance you're flying one of the airline's two regional carriers.

But these companies -- which handle 44% of Northwest's daily flights at the airport and employ more than 2,000 workers -- are the lead characters in a story that's unfolding in the shadow of Northwest's high-profile bankruptcy case.

At Mesaba, the company wants to slash labor costs in bankruptcy court. Union workers have vowed to stop proposed cuts and have threatened to strike -- a move that could force the liquidation of the commuter, which operates nearly a fifth of Northwest's flights out of Detroit Metro.

Meanwhile, Northwest's other feeder carrier, Pinnacle, is trying to keep Northwest as its only customer.

Both stand to lose significant business from Eagan, Minn.-based Northwest, which has plans to start its own commuter airline.

Mesaba's troubles mirror many of the issues at Northwest.

Entrenched in its own Chapter 11 bankruptcy case in Minneapolis, Mesaba is trying to pull concessions from its union workers. It's asking a bankruptcy judge for authority to impose lower wages, higher benefit costs and new work rules on 1,600 unionized pilots, flight attendants and mechanics.

Mesaba says it needs to shrink from the 100 planes it flew last October to 49 by the end of the year, based on expectations Northwest has made for Mesaba. It currently operates 74 planes.

The airline wants workers -- from management levels to union ranks -- to take 19.4% cuts in their benefits and wages. That would trim $17.1 million a year from its labor costs including $10 million from its union workers.

Mesaba employs 3,800 people, including 1,412 in Michigan. It's a subsidiary of MAIR Holdings, which has not filed for bankruptcy protection.

Mesaba says it needs the cuts, not only to handle cuts in its fleet, but to lower its costs enough to maintain and potentially win new business from Northwest, Mesaba President John Spanjers said in court papers last month.

Last year, Mesaba carried 5.7 million passengers for Northwest. As for revenue, Mesaba brought in $441 million during the 12 months ending in March last year.

Mesaba workers say they don't believe that the company needs all of the cuts it seeks.

The proposed cuts would reduce the average annual salary for a Mesaba flight attendant from $20,000 to $16,800. It would send the average salary for a pilot to about $37,000 and the top salary for a mechanic would go down to $38,000 a year.

Salaries would drop further when considering higher health care costs. Pilots would see larger pay cuts after trickling down to lower-paid posts.

Workers say they're concerned that they'll be giving up more than they have to, while driving themselves into their own financial turmoil.

"Most of our flight attendants have to take two jobs to make ends meet," said Nick Birchfield, president of Mesaba's Detroit unit of the Association of Flight Attendants, to more than 70 workers at a union rally Wednesday at Detroit Metro Airport.

All sides say they want to broker a deal instead of forcing a judge to make a decision. This week, the airline asked for an extra month to negotiate, before the judge is slated to make a decision.

Regional competition

Mesaba and Pinnacle are part of a highly competitive regional airline industry in which commuters try to keep costs low to woo major business carriers.

"There's a lot of pressure to reduce costs," said George Hamlin, a Fairfax, Va.-based transportation consultant. The pressure worsened for Pinnacle late last year when Northwest put the flying it gives to Pinnacle up for bid. Pinnacle employs 752 workers at Detroit Metro and operates about 140 flights a day there.

Last year, Pinnacle carried 8.1 million passengers, resulting in $833 million in revenue from its airline operation. That work could change hands if Northwest chooses another carrier to operate Pinnacle's flights. That's one reason workers at Pinnacle are closely watching what's happening at Mesaba, said Wakefield Gordon, who leads the Air Line Pilots Association's Pinnacle unit.

The Detroit Free Press
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Many northern plains cities are worried that if Northwest starts their own commuter routes that many of the smaller cities that are currently served by Mesaba or Pinnacle will not continue to receive air services. 

Mesaba management believes that reducing the pay scales would help them reduce their costs.  However reducing the pay of hard working and dedicated employees will only result in further frustration and resentment towards the company.  The added pressure of paying off student debut with a top pay of only $38,000 is just not feasible and will only cause pilots and other employees to harbor hatred towards the company.  Management and the pilots need to sit down together and work out the best possible deal.  Threatening to strike is having a negative effect on both the employees and the paying passengers who worry about whether or not their flight will be there when they need it to be.