Flyin@500agl:
This is the Piedmont Pilot update for Wednesday May 22, 2002.
There are three new items in this update.
Item one, USAirways road show. Today USAirways CEO David Siegel conducted the first of several road shows in Charlotte. The road show consisted of a Power Point presentation that outlined the challenges and choices facing USAirways, followed by a question and answer session. Most of the Power Point presentation was conducted from the letter that was sent out to all employees last Thursday May 16th. During the question and answer portion of the presentation, a question was posed to Mr. Siegel regarding the upstart of Potomac airlines and regional jets. He was asked why the company is once again starting up Potomac airlines and bringing in a new management team and employees, when he has three highly capable wholly owned airlines that are furloughing pilots and returning aircraft to their lessor. All this in the middle of talks of needing to save money to preserve USAirways. His response was that he was more concerned about preserving 11,000 mainline jobs, and that Potomac airlines will provide mainline furloughees with a job. He went on to say that these furloughees would provide Potomac with "experienced jet pilots." He also said that the wholly owned airlines were costing the company more money over the past few years, and it was cheaper to operate flights using the contract carriers. Mr. Siegel said that the wholly owned carriers were offered the chance to negotiate for the RJ's, but that all three said no.
Your MEC was extremely shocked by Mr. Siegel's comments today in light of the fact that we've been negotiating with USAirways and Piedmont management for the last three weeks and as recently as this afternoon. The proposal we presented to management last week is still on the table and waiting their approval, regardless of Mr. Siegel's comments. Your MEC Chairman has contacted Piedmont management, USAirways MEC Chairman Chris Beebe, and ALPA President Duane Woerth in an effort to understand Mr. Siegel's statement and ask for clarification. More information will follow in the coming days.