Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 20, 1994 TAG: 9407200079
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Staff and wire reports
DATELINE: STERLING LENGTH: Medium
The Sterling-based airline, which operates as United Express at Washington Dulles International Airport and six other Virginia airports, including Roanoke Regional, on Monday reported losses of $8.36 million for the first quarter of 1994.
Its second-quarter report has not been issued.
Atlantic Coast said it will swap a dozen 30-seat Embraer Brasilia Aircraft to Mesa Airlines for the same number of 19-seat British Aerospace Jetstream 31 planes. The airline already operates the 29-seat Jetstream 41.
Passengers flying out of the Roanoke Valley won't notice a difference in Atlantic Coast's planes. As United Express, the airline operates both the 19-seat and 29-seat Jetstream planes but none of the Brasilia aircraft at Roanoke Regional Airport, said Mark Courtney, the local field's director of planning and market development. United Express carries about 5 percent of the passenger traffic out of Roanoke, Courtney said.
Under an agreement with the Air Line Pilots Association that still has to be ratified, Embraer pilots would be assigned to the Jetstream fleet.
``We accomplished what we set out to do, removing one entire fleet type,'' airline President Kerry Skeen said. ``The Jetstream is ... the backbone of the company's fleet. There are more on order.''
Skeen declined to put a dollar amount on the expected savings.
The Sterling-based commuter carrier has 1,430 employees, making it one of the region's larger private companies. It flies to 52 cities along the East Coast, including Charlottesville, Lynchburg, Newport News, Norfolk and Richmond, airline spokesman Barron Beneski said.
The airline has struggled since it more than doubled in size last year. With most of its routes in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, the airline was hard hit by the icy winter.
In recent months, Atlantic Coast has replaced its top financial and maintenance officers and scuttled plans to grow at Newark International Airport, where other airlines have boosted service.
Atlantic Coast said it is making the aircraft swap because a diverse fleet requires more mechanics, more spare parts and more complex crew scheduling and training.
Under Federal Aviation Administration regulations, pilots generally are type-rated on one plane at a time and must be retrained each time they change. Skeen said the company will save about $10,000 per pilot in retraining.
Skeen said the contract changes include no pay cuts but would give the company more flexibility in scheduling and the opportunity to reap longer-term financial benefits.
In return, pilots will get more benefits, including a savings plan, if Atlantic Coast starts to turn a profit. The company already has an employee stock plan and a profit-sharing plan.
The airline also announced the formation of joint pilot-management committees and said pilots will have access to board meetings. Jeff Brundage, head of the airline's pilots union, said he's pleased that pilots will become more involved in corporate planning.
Atlantic Coast was begun in December 1989 as a division of WestAir. It was sold to its current owners in October 1991.
Staff writer Lon Wagner contributed information to this story.
by CNB