Farmers will plant the most acres in a generation this year, led by the biggest corn crop since World War II, taking advantage of the highest agricultural prices in at least four decades.CINCINNATI – Comair, a regional airline owned by Delta Air Lines Inc., said Wednesday it will shrink its fleet by more than half and reduce its staff over the next two years to cut costs.
Comair President John Bendoraitis told employees in a memo Wednesday that the regional airline, based in Erlanger, Ky., will get rid of most of its aging, less-efficient 50-seat jets and keep its bigger 65-seat and 76-seat jets.
The airline plans to shrink its fleet of 97 planes to 44 by the end of 2012. Trimming the fleet should save Comair about $110 million over the next four years, Bendoraitis said. He said most of Com-air’s 50-seat jets are leased, and those being retired will go back to aircraft leasing companies.
Bendoraitis says Comair’s current cost structure remains about 20 percent higher than its peers on a cost-per-hour basis.
Delta is one of the carriers providing services through Fort Wayne International Airport. A local airport official did not return a phone call Wednesday on how the Com-air cuts might affect Fort Wayne.
Comair begins contract negotiations soon with pilots, flight attendants and mechanics and will seek “new, more competitive agreements,” the airline said.
Bendoraitis said he couldn’t comment in detail on what Comair hopes to get from the unions. More than 1,000 pilots, 700 flight attendants and 400 mechanics at Comair are union members.
Jim Samuel, an official with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers representing Comair’s mechanics, said his first reaction to the cuts was “sheer surprise.”
While Comair did not give specific numbers of workers to be cut, Samuel thinks it is likely to be about half the workforce.
