Pilot bases to close
An arbitrator has sided with
Hawaiian in the airline's
effort to pare costs by
cutting California bases
An arbitrator has ruled Hawaiian Airlines can close its pilot hubs in Los Angeles and San Francisco, leaving 40-50 pilots looking for a new home base.
Even though the ruling came down Friday, Hawaiian is still "willing to discuss ideas that will help our pilots," said Keoni Wagner, a spokesman for the airline. Wagner said that although the effective date on which pilots have to firm up their new home-base plans is Nov. 1, the airline will be flexible.
"The company won't be enforcing that date. We don't expect any moves to take place until early '04," Wagner said. He said the company has been working with the union to minimize the effect of the change.
The pilots' union said it is still concerned about the time element, since its members worry about official deadlines for them to exert their seniority when it comes to allocating routes and home bases.
Vance Tilley of the Airline Pilots Association, the union that protested the change, said Hawaiian's willingness to help was noted, but as far as the union is concerned the pilots have until Friday to get their home-base preferences into the bidding system. The system allows pilots to bid for rights to particular routes and the airline has to make choices based on how many years each pilot has worked for Hawaiian.
"I don't know if there could be really fruitful negotiations," given the official timetable set under the pilots' base-choice options, said Tilley, a first officer in Hawaiian's Boeing 767 fleet.
Both sides agreed to the choice of arbitrator, from lists submitted by the union and the company, and they agreed to abide by the arbitrator's decision.
Hawaiian Airlines, which is working its way through a bankruptcy reorganization, says the base closures will save the company nearly $4 million a year.
A third West Coast base, in Seattle, will remain with about 24 pilots to give Hawaiian some flexibility in emergencies.
The pilots' union maintains its position that management has misunderstood the realities of closing the bases. "We feel there is going to be some economic and operational risk connected to not having crews available on the West Coast," said Tilley.
Hawaiian Airlines filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy court protection March 21. Parent company Hawaiian Holdings Inc., which is responsible for the publicly held HA shares, is not in bankruptcy.
