DAVID FIELD WASHINGTON
Delta Air Lines re-arranged its top ranks by promoting its number two executive, Frederick Reid, to president and chief operating officer.
Reid promptly moved to take command of the situation at Comair, its Delta Connection subsidiary, that has been grounded since late March by a long and increasingly bitter pilots strike.
Reid, executive vice-president and chief marketing officer since 1998, flew to Comair's Cincinnati base days after his promotion, where he told Comair employees that Delta would abandon its ambitious growth plans for the region and would shrink the carrier unless the strike was settled.
Comair had already furloughed 2,000 employees and taken 17 aircraft , including eight Bombardier CRJ-200s to be re-marketed, out of the fleet in response to the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) strike that began on 26 March.
Comair had plan-ned to add 80 new aircraft and over 900 new pilot positions over the next three years. Reid said that without a settlement that it could live with, "Delta will be forced to look for other ways to utilise the valuable assets at Comair". The carrier "would look for other markets to deploy these aircraft or consider making them available to the many other operators currently standing in line to serve the flying public".
Reid's first public performance in his new job made a strong statement, but did not win over the pilots, who resoundingly voted down the contract offer before them by a 1,042 to 99 vote.
True to Reid's word, Comair shrank more after the contract rejection, announcing 400 more layoffs and the removal of 20 more CRJs from its fleet. ALPA local chairman JC Lawson said: "we have to wonder if Comair isn't being sacrificed for ego, because we certainly can't find any sound business rationale for management's actions."
Reid's high-profile challenge to the union marks his intended role in the Delta hierarchy: he's the man in charge of tough tasks. Reid, 50 years old, joined Delta in 1998 from Lufthansa, where he was president and chief operating officer and the first American to lead a major European airline. His main focus will be on continuing Delta's improvement in everyday operations, while he will also be responsible for revenue management, scheduling, strategic alliances, sales and brand management.
Reid is widely seen as the successor to Delta chairman and chief executive Leo Mullin, and will devote himself to long-term strategy and to industry affairs such as possible consolidation. Delta has elevated its customer service executive vice-president for customer service Vicki Escarra, to fill Reid's former position.
Source: Airline Business
