Comair Seeks to Void F/A Contract

Comair is seeking to void its contract with 1100 flight attendants in a bid to reduce costs in wake of its parent companys bankruptcy filing. Comair is owned by Delta Airlines.

Looking for employee concessions totaling $8.9 million from flight attendants alone, Comair is claiming they need the give backs in order to remain competitive with other regional carriers. Comair flight attendants earn between $16K for new hires to just over $40K for senior cabin crew.

MiGs and Aeroflot to Merge

Russias moribund aircraft industry is set to receive new life thanks to government and business support designed to revive Russias aircraft industry.

A single Kremlin controlled aircraft industry is being developed to unite the Soviet era airliners and fighter jets together under government control. With government and private funding in place, Russia hopes to reenter the aircraft market to compete against Boeing and Airbus. Both aircraft manufacturing companies are seeking to win lucrative Russian aircraft orders; Airbus recently inked a deal with Russia worth $25 billion for parts and design assistance.

The merged Russian company, to be called United Aircraft, will put six major design and manufacturing centers under a single roof: Sukhoi, MiG, Tupelov, Irkut, Ilyushin and Yakovlev. The companies had formed a consortium last year in anticipation of the merger.

The new company will be capitalized with $10 billon to start.

Airline Woes Down Under

Blaming a spike in fuel prices, Air New Zealand, the republics flag carrier, is planning on laying off 25% of its corporate staff in a bid to shave expenses by about $30 million per year.

Air New Zealand is also citing stiff competition on popular New Zealand to Australia routes for contributing to their loss of profits totaling 55%.