OSCODA, MI — Kalitta Air, an Ypsilanti-based air cargo carrier that employs more than 1,000 people at a maintenance facility in Oscoda, has laid off about 150 of those workers.
Most of the workers were contractors, said Kalitta Vice President Pete Sanderlin. The cuts are in response to business in the air freight industry declining, Sanderlin said.
“The whole industry is feeling the effects of reduced markets and so forth,” Sanderlin said Wednesday, Jan. 15.
Kalitta Air is an air cargo company based at Willow Run Airport with a fleet of more than 30 airplanes, according to its website. The company was founded by drag racing star Conrad Kalitta.
MLive previously reported on layoffs at Kalitta’s maintenance division in Oscoda during the Great Recession, which reduced the workforce there to much smaller than it currently stands.
The Oscoda facility uses hangars at the former Paul B. Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Iosco County. That’s near Lake Huron, about 75 miles north of Bay City.
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