 
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
              
|
Jobs, flights in Pittsburgh protected in US Airways sale
Wednesday, May 24, 2000 By Frank Reeves, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
For thousands of US Airways employees and the tens of thousands of passengers who fly out of Pittsburgh, the most pressing question about the UAL purchase of US Airways is whether the sale will mean a loss of jobs or flights.
For now, it looks like both jobs and flights will be protected.
US Airways is the region's largest private employer, with 11,700 local employees and an annual payroll of about $850 million. It is also the region's dominant airline. Nearly 19 million US Airways passengers pass through Pittsburgh International Airport each year, according to Allegheny County officials.
"Initial information indicates that there will be no loss of jobs to US Airways employees and the Pittsburgh International Airport will not lose any of its flight services, but rather stands to increase service from this airport," said Kent George, Allegheny County Aviation Director.
In a statement released by his office, County Executive Jim Roddey said, "The most important thing will be for us to urge United to maintain Pittsburgh as a hub [airport]."
United has hubs in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago, while US Airways' hubs are in Charlotte, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
Margaret Philbin, Roddey's spokeswoman, said the county executive already had planned to travel to Chicago on June 1. He will arrange to go there sooner if United officials can meet with him.
She said Roddey and other county officials do not yet know what effect the sale may have on US Airways' plan to build an expanded maintenance facility at Pittsburgh International Airport.
$11.6 billion deal creates a colossus; antitrust OK up in the air
Online graphic: Marriage made in the heavens
In December, US Airways announced that it planned to build a "major, world-class maintenance facility" at the airport. The plan, described as the first phase of the maintenance facility expansion, included up to four new hangar bays for the Airbus A320 single-aisle aircraft or a three-bay configuration that could handle both the smaller planes and A330 twin-aisle widebody aircraft.
United Airlines, which also flies some Airbus aircraft, is constructing a maintenance complex in Indianapolis that will cost $1.1 billion and will feature two million square feet under one roof. It is expected to be completed in 2004.
While the proposal didn't go as far as the county had wanted, it would preserve 5,000 airline maintenance-related jobs in Pittsburgh. Officials had feared that those jobs could be lost as US Airways phased out its older McDonnell Douglas aircraft in favor of Airbus jets.
Last week, at the US Airways shareholders annual meeting, Chairman Stephen Wolf said US Airways was continuing to discuss the possibility of constructing a new maintenance facility but felt no urgency to build one now.
Flight attendants
"Just as a bystander, you can see the ramifications. There will be more opportunities for local travel to become more global," Dzadovsky said.
Dzadovsky said he and other union officials received their first word of United's plans yesterday morning. But he said he wasn't surprised by it.
"We have the route structure in the Northeast and on the East Coast that makes us a very viable carrier for a number of suitors. We have a very solid position in this country. We have always felt that there was some other scenario that US Airways would be involved in. It either would buy someone else or [undergo] acquisition by another carrier.
"Given our stock price over the last two and a half years, I know the value of our company is much greater than our stock price."
Because US Airways' attendants realized that their employer might not always exist under that name, they built in protection for themselves in the contract they negotiated and ratified earlier this year, he said.
"What it means for us [flight attendants] is long-term viability. We will have job security in event of a merger, buyout or purchase. We continue to maintain our seniority, our benefits and our position with the [new] company... That's because we are both AFA carriers."
Outside analysis
Michael Boyd, president of The Boyd Group, a Colorado-based aviation consulting firm, said although stockholders and US Airways executives were likely to profit from the merger, it would be "a major league disaster" for consumers and US Airways employees.
He said that the merger of United, the nation's largest airline, with US Airways, America's sixth largest carrier, "will result in a new entity that is less than the sum of its parts."
Boyd predicted that "there will be less service, less competition, and fewer jobs."
Darryl Jenkins, director of Georgetown University's Aviation Institute, said the deal could ensure "long-term survivability of US Airways."
In recent years, Jenkins noted, US Airways has faced increased competition from "low-cost, low-fare" airlines, most recently Jet Blue Airways, as well as other top-ten carriers. They've sought to erode US Airways' dominance in the East. Without a merger with a larger carrier, Jenkins said, US Airways risked being "hacked apart" by competitors.
Other local leaders
Webb said Pittsburgh International Airport receives the bulk of its operating revenues from landing and concession fees and space rentals, but said the airport's bonds are insured. This means that if there were any severe disruption in service -- something that is not expected -- it would not be a loss to bondholders.
Allegheny County Council President John DeFazio said it would be "a shame" if US Airways' Pittsburgh-area workforce were hurt by the deal.
Mayor Murphy is out of town. His spokesman, Craig J. Kwiecinski, said the mayor was at a convention in Las Vegas and could not be reached last night.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
