Hawaiian BK court news

[Erndogg]

I'm pleased to announce that ALPA reached agreement with the Company
earlier this morning on a revised TA. The MEC fully endorsed this TA at
their meeting earlier this week, and we will offer it to the membership
with a recommendation that you approve it. We feel the Revised TA
addresses many of the concerns expressed by the membership when they
voted down the previous tentative agreement last month, and offers the
best deal available to us while still giving us the ability to further
negotiate improvements in the future.

At this time our Negotiating Committee is going over the legal language
of the LOA that will be sent to you for ratification. Once our review is
completed we will be giving you extensive details of the Revised TA and
how it differs from the previous proposal. We anticipate beginning the
ratification voting early next week, with voting ending on Tuesday, May
10.

Thank you for your support and your patience throughout this lengthy
negotiating process. We firmly believe that allowing the bankruptcy
judge to impose a contract upon us via the 1113 process was a lose-lose
situation for everyone that would have resulted in a significantly
inferior contract, as well as drawing out the bankruptcy process even
further. By reaching a deal with the Company, we will protect the heart
of our contract, allow our airline to emerge from bankruptcy, and retain
a strong bargaining position for future section 6 negotiations.

Please continue to monitor your e-mail and the FCIS for further
communications explaining the TA and setting a schedule for the
ratification voting.

In Unity,

Kirk McBride, MEC Chairman

 

[RJP]

For what it's worth; Congrats! Hope you guys come out of Ch.11 and expand.

 

[mdanno808]

I just read the ammended News Talk, and the Ta sounds pretty good. In fact, it will really surprise me if it is not ratified. The only thing Kirk didn't address was work rules, staffing, etc. Any news?

 

[Erndogg]

For what it's worth; Congrats! Hope you guys come out of Ch.11 and expand.
__________________

For all the furloughed guys/gals out there. The plan (from Dunkerly) is to acqiure 4 767's and 2 717's in the near future.
We are short a 767 for the summer because of this prolonged drama in BK, but once we are out in May-there will be 1 coming soon.
I dont think the staffing formula factor of 83 hrs (compared to 81) has changed with the new revised TA but we will have to see???
There will be some staffing shortfalls filled by (less ALPA leave,more reserve untilization etc.....), so I think that we will need the 2-4 767's and 2 717's to recall???
Stay tuned for the latest.

 

[Whale Rider]

Congrates Guys,

Glad you guys fought for every inch. Bring all the furlough guys/gals back and bring more birds online!

Mahalo!

 

[Dan Roman]

The initial intent of Ranch Capital was to double the airlines size in 18 months. They were told by Dunkerly and the unions that if they did it would be too quick and hurt the operational reliability and service. So they have reduced expectations but still plan on doubling the airline. This came from MEC members and a management type in maint. While the union has it's eye on Carty, he does bring to the table the ability to find aircraft and he nows the airline industry. The BOD also has the ret. Admiral who was in charge of the entire Pacific on the BOD as well as some strong local business people. This could get interesting once the dust settles and the trustee is gone. He has made coming to an agreement much harder than it should have.

 

[mdanno808]

I would love for Hawaiian to get a bunch of new planes, and expand, however, I won't believe any of it until I see a bunch of 76's parked over on Elliot Street.

 

[HAL]

Did I read correctly the Konop was 'released'????

What the #%$@ happened?

HAL

 

[Erndogg]

Did I read correctly the Konop was 'released'????

What the #%$@ happened?

HAL

The Ohandley memo (HApilot.com) seems to say that he is no longer an employee of HA, but I dont know??? Since he is not part of the union-What kind of appeal process does he have??? He pays ALPA dues but stated that he was not part of the union years ago???
Stay Tuned

 

[Whale Rider]

Hey Erndogg,

Rayyyydas Rule Bro!

 

[mdanno808]

Knowing Bob, I would imagine that the lawsuit has already begun. I hope Hawaiian is ready, because Konop is probably gonna sue them for millions. What justification did the company give for releasing him?

 

[Erndogg]

Knowing Bob, I would imagine that the lawsuit has already begun. I hope Hawaiian is ready, because Konop is probably gonna sue them for millions. What justification did the company give for releasing him

If the memo is true and Bob has in fact been terminated-He still can use the Alpa appeal process (If he so desires-but I doubt it). There is no reason on the memo-but it is obviously tied to the failed plan he had for Hawaiian and his bad choice of investors in which to align himself with.

 

[Erndogg]

Aloha Air moves to sell
1,000-worker baggage
and cabin services unit

By Dave Segal
[email protected]


Aloha Airlines said it is close to selling its contract-services unit in a move that will reduce the size of the 3,600-person company by more than a fourth.

David Banmiller, president and chief executive of Aloha, said yesterday there are three "serious" bidders for the airline's contract-services unit, which employs nearly 1,000 people to handle various duties for 15 other airlines. He said he hopes to make a decision by June 1.

The announcement came on a day when Aloha also announced its first monthly operating profit since August. The carrier, which has been in reorganization bankruptcy since Dec. 30, told a federal Bankruptcy Court judge it had an operating gain of $2.6 million in March on revenue of $40.7 million.

However, revenue for April is trailing the company's forecast and likely is due to Easter falling in March this year, Banmiller said.

Aloha attorney Paul Singerman said the company might need to implement an employee retention program after 27 managers, or 18 percent on an annualized basis, have left the company since Dec. 1. This is in addition to the company's layoff of 12 managers and the freezing of 35 open management positions in December. Singerman said Aloha's pre-bankruptcy turnover rate was 3 percent to 5 percent.

The contract-services unit, which assists airlines in Honolulu, Maui, Kona and Lihue, performs baggage handling, cabin cleaning, some maintenance work and some cargo handling. The unit was first shopped around in September along with the company's cargo division.

Banmiller said yesterday that even though the contract-services unit is profitable, the company is selling because it is not achieving the margins the company would like and the work is labor-intensive. He said, though, that Aloha will keep the cargo division.

"The cargo division has a good return, and we carry about 85 percent of the cargo overnight between the islands. In the contract-services group, the margins are different," Banmiller said.

Under their collective-bargaining agreement, employees in the cargo-services unit have a right to negotiate with the new buyers, according to Randy Kauhane, assistant general chairman of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District Lodge 141.

"The company has to give us a 30-day notification when it's going to be sold," Kauhane said. "I'm not too sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing in that we have an agreement with the Aloha contract. But we can't control if the company wants to sell it off. But if we get an agreement with the other party, we haven't lost anything."

Banmiller said the airline is making progress and exceeded the company's revenue forecast by about $2 million in March while its operating expenses were about $1.7 million less than anticipated. Net income, which included about $1.7 million in loan interest and expenses for attorneys and consultants, was about $335,000.

In the first quarter, Aloha had an operating loss of just under $3 million but beat its forecast by about $7 million. Banmiller said revenue was $3.7 million higher than projected, while operating expenses were lower by about $4 million. Aloha should begin to see the benefits of employee labor concessions in the second quarter, Singerman said.

Banmiller said comparing Aloha's situation now and where it was at the end of last year is "night and day."

"We've got adequate financing in place," he said. "We've paid off the (federal Air Transportation Stabilization Board loan) and the banks. We've gone through the very challenging times of renegotiating five labor agreements and 26 or 27 aircraft leases in an incredibly restricted time frame and have been able to satisfy various constituencies. So I'm very optimistic about the future. I think we're going to have a good summer."