Decision On Whether Carrier Can Toss Out Contracts Will Come Monday

A bankruptcy court judge was expected to rule Thursday whether struggling regional carrier Mesaba Airlines can toss aside labor contracts with approximately 1,500 union employees, and impose the pay and benefit cuts it says it needs to survive... but late Thursday night, Judge Gregory Kishel decided to give both sides until Monday to hammer out a deal.

Using the same argument Comair presented to its unions last month, the Northwest feeder airline told workers it needs cash for bids to keep its routes. Mesaba bids to operate planes owned by Northwest -- who is looking for the lowest bidder.

Mesaba's management says it's strapped... so the cash has to come from workers, or else the carrier won't survive.

Northwest -- facing cash problems of its own -- proposed Mesaba fly just 30 jets, instead of the carrier's 100-jet proposal earlier this year. Currently, Mesaba operates just 49 aircraft, all but one of which are Saab 340 commuter turboprops.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports Mesaba management has told its unions, and the bankruptcy court, the only cash it has left is what would be needed for an orderly liquidation.

As Aero-News reported last week, labor unions representing pilots, flight attendants, and mechanics at Mesaba presented airline management with an  joint offer to save their airline, their jobs, and their contracts. The Mesaba Labor Coalition claims to have offered offered wage, work rule and benefit concessions that will cut labor costs by 15 percent for the next three years.

Mesaba says that's just not good enough, though... and that it needs cuts totalling 17.5 percent to survive, and compete with other regional carriers looking to operate routes for Northwest Airlink -- as well as the Northwest's own Compass regional airline.

The unions have threatened to strike if the pay cuts are imposed... with the Air Line Pilots Association sending notices this week to its 620 pilots at Mesaba to clear their personal belongings from company property by Sunday... just in case of a strike or liquidation.

The Association of Flight Attendants has also told its workers to prepare for random work stoppages under its "CHAOS" program.

FMI: www.mesaba.com