Mesaba Hopes to Fly Soon as NWA-owned Airline

Apr. 2 -- After surviving a rough ride in bankruptcy, Mesaba Airlines is planning to hire about 800 employees between now and the end of 2008 as the airline expands its fleet by 36 regional jets.

About 350 to 360 of those new jobs will be in the Twin Cities.

Mesaba, based in Eagan, is poised to exit bankruptcy this month and soon will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Northwest Airlines.

In October 2005, Mesaba followed Northwest into Chapter 11. Both carriers have restructured, and Mesaba has been tapped to fly new regional jets that Northwest is acquiring from Canada-based Bombardier.

Last year Mesaba employees accepted pay and benefit cuts and work rule changes that allowed the airline to cut labor costs by nearly 16 percent. Since 2005, Northwest cut Mesaba's fleet in half, from 100 to 50 planes.

In an interview with the Star Tribune, Mesaba President John Spanjers characterized the past 18 months in bankruptcy as "a very stressful and difficult time" for Mesaba employees. "We are starting to build and move forward again. There is a lot of excitement," he added.

The first new Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ) will go into service in June, and another dozen planes will arrive this year. By the end of 2008, Mesaba will be flying three dozen new planes. Spanjers said the cities to be served by the 76-seaters, which have first-class cabins, will be chosen by Northwest in coming months.

Tom Wychor, chairman of the Mesaba pilots union, said the CRJs represent the future of the carrier, but they are "replacement aircraft" for the old four-engine Avros that Northwest phased out of the fleet. Since those planes were removed, virtually all Mesaba pilots have been paid less to fly small Saab turboprops.

"The toll of the bankruptcy period and the retraction to the smaller, lower-paying Saabs for many of our pilots has been immense," Wychor said.

"We've already hired 100 pilots and have them assigned to new-hire [training] classes through June," Spanjers said. He acknowledged that there is tough competition to hire regional pilots in the current marketplace, but said Mesaba has attracted high-quality pilots in the past and Northwest's purchase of the company provides some stability for the future.

He anticipates Mesaba's employment will grow from 3,200 currently to 4,000 by the time all of the jets arrive next year. Mesaba had 3,897 employees when it entered bankruptcy.

Mesaba expects to employ 320 additional pilots, including 88 who've been recalled, Spanjers said. About 300 more flight attendants will be needed to staff the new aircraft, and 85 mechanics.

Spanjers also indicated that Mesaba will hire an additional 30 mechanics to do heavy maintenance on the Saabs near Wausau, Wis. Previously, that work was outsourced to a company in Nashville.

Nathan Winch, Mesaba Airlines representative for the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA), said the heavy maintenance work was outsourced in 2003, but it is returning to Mesaba mechanics as a result of the new labor contract that was negotiated last year.

"We'd like to see the airlines do all of their maintenance in-house," Winch said. "We believe it is good for us, good for the airlines and good for passengers."

Under the union contract, Winch said newly hired mechanics would earn $12.08 to $13.84 per hour.

When AMFA mechanics went on strike at Northwest in 2005, many mechanics at the top of the scale were making about $36 an hour.

Based on the wages that Mesaba is paying, Kevin Wildermuth, lead Mesaba AMFA negotiator, said, "I don't think they'll be hiring experience for that wage." Instead, Wildermuth said, he anticipates that Mesaba will be hiring beginning mechanics.

Creditors are currently reviewing Mesaba's reorganization plan, which includes a total of $1.1 million in incentive payments to Mesaba's top five executives.

Spanjers, who is set to receive a payment of $308,348, said the executives declined incentive pay last year. They also took base pay cuts of 9.1 percent.

Spanjers said the proposed payments for the executives were deemed fair by the creditors committee, and they are tied to completing the bankruptcy process.

Wychor said airline employees have taken "drastic pay and benefit reductions" and that "we expect our sacrifice to be shared by management."

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