Big Sky to stop East Coast opps

O

OldTownPilot

Well-Known Member
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/071219/20071219006084.html?.v=1

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Big Sky Airlines, the principal subsidiary of MAIR Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAIR - News), today announced that its east coast operations will cease service at Midnight on January 7, 2008. Big Sky also announced that it will attempt to transition its services in the west to another carrier.
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“We are disappointed that Big Sky was unable to overcome disappointing revenue, unusually bad weather and record-high fuel prices, obstacles which we now believe make it impossible to achieve sustained profitability,” said Paul F. Foley, MAIR’s president and chief executive officer. “We will assist Big Sky in managing this transition, and we also intend to continue pursuing MAIR’s goal of returning cash to its shareholders.”

Consistent with MAIR’s long-term strategy regarding the cash on its balance sheet and any recovery it receives from the Mesaba bankruptcy trust, MAIR intends to make cash distributions to its shareholders in 2008. MAIR intends to do this as expeditiously as possible, with the final process and method being dependent on a variety of factors, including tax issues and ongoing capital needs of MAIR.

MAIR will conduct a teleconference with the investment community on Thursday, December 20th at 10:00 A.M. (Central Time) to discuss these issues. The public is invited to participate in this event through a listen-only webcast by connecting to the teleconference provider and following the on-screen instructions.
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Should be REAL interesting.
 
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/071219/20071219006073.html?.v=1

BILLINGS, Mont.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Big Sky Airlines, a wholly-owned subsidiary of MAIR Holdings, Inc., today announced that its east coast operations will cease service at Midnight on January 7, 2008. Big Sky will continue to operate in Montana while it works to transition its services to another carrier.

“Our eastern operations were dramatically affected by a combination of unusually bad weather, disappointing revenue and record high fuel prices,” said Fred deLeeuw, Big Sky’s president. “We have great people who have worked extraordinarily hard, but that factor could not overcome the challenges we faced, and we no longer believe that we can reach sustained profitability.”

Big Sky began its eastern operations in April 2007 as a Delta Connection codeshare partner, primarily operating out of Boston’s Logan Airport. The decision to cease operations was mutually agreed to by Big Sky and Delta. Customers holding reservations on flights scheduled after the cessation of operations will be contacted by Delta regarding accommodation options.

The jobs of approximately 140 Big Sky employees – primarily located in Boston, Watertown, NY and Covington, KY – will be eliminated. The company has engaged a broker to assist in the sale of the aircraft used in the eastern operations.
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I had an interview scheduled tomm at 1530 at Logan and I got the call today at around 1200 that they had to canx because of how crazy the airline business is right now! No indication that they were pulling the plug at all.
I feel bad for a couple of guys I know that have only been there about a 8 months or so and are going to have to move to MT or find another job real quick!
 
"The jobs of approximately 140 Big Sky employees – primarily located in Boston, Watertown, NY and Covington, KY – will be eliminated. The company has engaged a broker to assist in the sale of the aircraft used in the eastern operations."

That sucks! I wonder who will get their flying?
 
So what happens if the BOS based guys don't want to relocate...can they quit and break the training contract?
 
This actually is kinda interesting since I've been hearing rumors of an ExpressJet Delta base out of Boston for quite some time.

Not sure if that really has anything to do with Big Sky but oh well..
 
BGR, TTN, YQB and YFC were once served by Comair in CRJs before BigSly came to town, so there is a chance of them taking those routes back. ALB and ISP are still served by US. as for the EAS stuff? who knows. If the airports could take Saabs I could see a BOS base for Colgan. The CVG service was all EAS so that will go out to bid.

BGR was up to 6 1900s a day, serving half the "passenger seats" from BGR. They also just announced the CVG ron was being pulled just after the holidays from here too. If BOS does not get replaced the entire airport will be down to 8 RJ departures a day. 3 to PHL, 2 to DTW and 1 each to EWR, CVG and ATL. Plus a 2x weekly Allegiant flight to SFB. BGR used to be host to mainline traffic from all the majors except AA and NW. Far cry from the good old days.
 
The irony in all this of course is the two EAS airports in New York (Plattsburg and Saranac Lake) who complained loud enough to get CommuteAir kicked off the EAS routes now have nothing. Too bad for them I guess. Nobody else wanted it last time and I can't imagine anybody wanting it this time.
 
wow...this is big news, I have a friend I used to work with who is there out of BOS but I havent had the chance to talk to him. Its too bad, he is a really great guy and it stinks to see people get displaced/fired/furloughed etc.

Guess its just the way of the business
 
Never good to see folks kicked to the curb. Especially around Christmas.

I have some friends that will be looking for work..... do hiring dept's offer preferential interviews to these pilots or are they back to square one?

If anyone is looking for a job in Anchorage let me know. You can crash at my place... and I'll help you look for a job.

500and2
 
OldTownPilot said:
BGR, TTN, YQB and YFC were once served by Comair in CRJs before BigSly came to town, so there is a chance of them taking those routes back. ALB and ISP are still served by US. as for the EAS stuff? who knows. If the airports could take Saabs I could see a BOS base for Colgan. The CVG service was all EAS so that will go out to bid.

BGR was up to 6 1900s a day, serving half the "passenger seats" from BGR. They also just announced the CVG ron was being pulled just after the holidays from here too. If BOS does not get replaced the entire airport will be down to 8 RJ departures a day. 3 to PHL, 2 to DTW and 1 each to EWR, CVG and ATL. Plus a 2x weekly Allegiant flight to SFB. BGR used to be host to mainline traffic from all the majors except AA and NW. Far cry from the good old days.
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This is HUGE news man. Someone is going to have to pick up that slack. I believe when Eagle pulled out of BGR, Big Sky was the only way to BOS. Interesting to see who steps in.

This gets really interesting now. Colgan is getting rid of 1900's and could have effects on AUG, BHB, and RKD. Up here a lot of us thought that if the Saab 340 wasn't approved that Big Sky would take over those routes.....guess not.
 
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