In light of last week’s Comair tragedy in Lexington, Delta has agreed to extend the deadline for Comair to bid on regional jet service. The fact that Delta had requested proposals from other regional carriers was a slap in the face to Comair, which happens to be a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta and many of the flights they put out for bid were operated by them.
Comair now has until October 2nd to submit its proposal, as reported by the Associated Press. Delta said it was requesting these proposals to cut costs during its bankruptcy reconstruction. Being that Comair is also under bankruptcy, the loss in revenue should they lose the bid could be fatal for them, especially after recent bad publicity. As the Cincinnati Inquirer reports the loss of this contract would mean a loss of 19 percent of its fleet and 600 or more jobs.
Delta acquired Comair for $1.8 billion in 2000, and current Comair President Don Bornhurst is struggling to keep the company afloat amidst problems, including this disaster. The Lexington Herald-Leader profiles the issues facing Bornhurst here.
Delta itself is trying to terminate its pilot pension plan, and has asked the bankruptcy court to make it effective on September 2. Only the retired pilots are objecting to the settlement. Active pilots are not currently opposing the plan. More details are available here.
On a final note, Delta Air Lines and KLM Royal Dutch will start codesharing beyond their hubs. Delta will begin its codesharing to 10 KLM markets via Amsterdam including Stockholm, Warsaw, Hamburg, Oslo, Bucharest, Gothenburg, Hanover, Nuremberg, Birmingham, and Helsinki. KLM also began codesharing to 14 destinations beyond Atlanta and JFK on July 20th. If they secure government approval, they will expand this to over 40.