Mesaba cancelled flights

[jetset]

So it costs Mesaba 2 million dollars a day for not operating (when the strike begins)...If I'm not mistaken, isn't Mesaba management already starting to lose it's 2 million dollars a day because of the cancelled flights? Whether the pilots are carrying the signs or waiting to, one thing is for sure, the planes are on the GROUND. So although the deadline has passed, the management team is still paying a price. Just a thought. I know all you Mesaba guys must be on pins and needles right now, keep your chin up, and all the best. Good Luck. Hopefully that fantastic new contract is MOMENTS away!

 

[jetset]

I stand corrected, they are still running some flights I guess. But my point is just that for every cancelled flight, it costs them.

 

[Wanderer]

no...you are right!!!!

They have cancelled for 10Jan.

 

[mesaba2425]

Mesaba Airlines cancels all Saturday flights
By JOSHUA FREED AP Business Writer
The Associated Press - 01/10/2004
MINNEAPOLIS


Mesaba Airlines canceled all of its flights scheduled for Saturday as negotiations with its pilots continued hours past a strike deadline.

Mesaba spokesman Dave Jackson said all of its 450 to 500 flights scheduled for Saturday had been grounded,

The company and union continued to trade proposals, said Air Line Pilots Association spokesman Will Holman.

The pilots had said they would strike if no deal was reached by 11:01 p.m. CST on Friday, when a 30-day cooling off period expired. But minutes after the deadline passed, Mesaba ALPA unit leader Tom Wychor emerged and said the union had extended negotiations because progress was being made.

"If we're unable to reconcile our differences with management within a limited period of time, we will declare a strike," he said.

Mesaba has declined to comment, other than saying that it agreed to the extension of negotiations. The airline advised passengers holding tickets for Saturday flights to contact Northwest Airlines before the flight.

After the extension of negotiations was announced, Mesaba pilots who had been doing an informational picket at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport got in two vans and drove away.

Mesaba, the regional carrier that funnels passengers to Northwest Airlines' hubs, flies about 600 daily departures. About one in every 12 Northwest passengers flies part of their trip on Mesaba.

In North Dakota, Mesaba serves Bismarck, Devils Lake, Fargo, Grand Forks and Jamestown.

On Friday, Gov. Tim Pawlenty said the federal government had told him it would not intervene if talks broke down.

Mesaba has said it would not try to fly if the pilots strike. It canceled flights Saturday so planes would not be stranded in the far-flung cities Mesaba serves.

Northwest owns 28 percent of Mesaba, provides its airplanes, and handles its reservations. Mesaba has said it must keep its labor costs flat to keep flying for Northwest.

Northwest has declined to say how it would be affected by a Mesaba strike. Northwest spokeswoman Mary Stanik said the airline would not attempt to fly Mesaba routes, instead offering rebookings on Northwest or on Pinnacle Airlines, another regional carrier that serves Northwest.

Earlier this week, pilots at Northwest and Pinnacle said they would not fly new routes or larger planes to make up for struck Mesaba routes, as they're allowed to do under federal labor law.

Northwest said it would allow passengers with tickets for travel on Mesaba between Jan. 9 and Jan. 17 to rebook those flights on Northwest or Pinnacle with no change fees. Passengers who rebook flights for travel beyond Feb. 9 must pay any difference in fares, but change fees will be waived, Northwest said.

Mesaba pilots had been bargaining since June 2001. In October, 98 percent of the pilots voted to authorize a strike.

Pay has been a key issue. The Air Line Pilots Association has said that about half of Mesaba's pilots earn less than $35,000 for full-time work.

ALPA spokesman Dave Ricci had said Mesaba earlier offered a 1 percent raise for captains and 5 percent for first officers. But he said the airline also proposed cutting the flight hours guaranteed to pilots from 75 to 70, which would result in a net pay cut, he said.

In Bemidji, one of seven Minnesota cities that has no air service other than Mesaba, Brian Gund made a Friday morning flight to the Twin Cities, where he was to pick up a Northwest flight to Jackson Hole, Wyo., for a ski trip. He said he has travel insurance to pay for a rental car in case his return flight Tuesday is canceled.

Gund said a strike would be a big deal for Bemidji, a town about 190 miles northwest of Minneapolis.

"Mesaba is the only carrier we have. I think the impact to Bemidji is huge, and long-term, it's bad for the outstate airports," he said. "It's a struggle to get people to fly anyway, so I think it's going to hurt."