Comair, a regional airline subsidiary of Delta Air Lines Inc., said Thursday it will eliminate up to 650 more jobs as it cuts its work force by as much as 14 percent in a broader bid to save up to $70 million a year.
Comair said it will also cut pay for management and nonunion workers and reduce its fleet as parent Delta slashes costs during its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.
Comair said the pay cuts will start in December. The company also said it was beginning discussions with union leaders on plans to reduce pilot costs by $17.3 million, flight attendants by $8.9 million and mechanics by $1 million.
Comair will reduce its fleet of 174 planes by at least 11, and could remove as many as 30 during the bankruptcy reorganization.
The latest job cut announcement is in addition to 350 job cuts systemwide announced last month and brings the combined total to up to 1,000 jobs. Comair spokesman Nick Miller said the final number of job cuts could be as low as 600, depending on the total fleet reductions. He could not say yet where the jobs will be eliminated, but said the carrier hoped to use voluntary departures and other means to reduce the impact on employees.
Atlanta-based Delta said before it filed for bankruptcy last month it would trim service by about 25 percent at its second-largest hub, the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in Hebron, Ky. Comair employs about 5,000 of its 7,000 workers at the airport.
"These changes, while difficult, are necessary in the current industry environment and are required if we are to emerge from our restructuring ready to compete and win," Fred Buttrell, Comair's president, said in a statement.
A spokesman for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers said Thursday that the union that represents the Comair mechanics has not been advised of any specific cuts affecting its members.
"We aren't going to comment or make any assumptions until we meet with the company," said spokesman Joseph Tiberi.
He said union representatives will meet with the company on Nov. 8.
Other union representatives didn't immediately return telephone calls seeking comment.
Delta and its subsidiaries, including Comair, account for 92 percent of the daily flights at the Cincinnati airport. Comair has 1,155 flights a day total, with 110 destinations, including Canada and the Bahamas. Its departures will drop to 903 daily in December.
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