Comair to announce Sunday if flights will be canceled

Comair pilots inspect picket signs Friday at a strike center in Kentucky

CINCINNATI, Ohio (CNN) -- The president of Comair said the airline would announce possible flight cancellations Sunday afternoon to accommodate passengers ahead of a threatened strike by its pilots Monday.

"At 3 p.m. (ET) Sunday, if we do not have an agreement or believe we will be able to get one, we will cancel Monday's flight schedule through 6 p.m.," Comair President Randy Rademacher said Saturday at a news conference.

Following the news conference Rademacher headed to Washington to participate in federally mediated talks between the pilots' union and the company. A 30-day cooling-off period ends at midnight Sunday.

Pilots for the nation's second-largest commuter airline have threatened to walk off the job Monday if they can't agree on a new contract. The airline began canceling flights last week so that no employees or passengers would be stranded anywhere, Rademacher said.

"We hope they're putting as much energy in at the negotiating table as they are in closing our airline," said Comair pilots' spokesman Capt. Paul Lackie of the precautionary cancellations.

Comair President Rademacher

Talks between the two sides began under federal mediation since Friday.

"We are somewhat discouraged but we are certainly not yet feeling that there has to be a strike on Monday morning," Rademacher said. Comair operates 323 daily flights to 95 cities out of its Cincinnati hub.

Atlanta-based Delta Airlines, where 10,000 Delta pilots are poised to strike later this spring, could also be affected, since Comair is a feeder for Delta.

Delta Connections President and CEO David Siebenburgen said all of Delta Airlines supports Comair's decisions.

"The steps that they are taking to re-accommodate passengers well in advance (of a possible strike) are heroic," Siebenburgen said at the news conference.

The union wants its regional pilots to be compensated on the same scale as major airline pilots. The union's stance is that an airline pilot should earn the same income whether flying for a regional airline or a national one. The dispute is being closely watched by the industry.

"No one wants a contract as much as we do," Lackie said. "One that respects us as real airline pilots and pays us as real airline pilots."

Talks began in June 1998 between Comair and its 1,400 pilots. Mediation was unsuccessful through 1999 and 2000.

If no agreement is reached by Sunday at midnight, the two sides could agree to extend the deadline of the "cooling-off" period and continue negotiations or the pilots' union could choose to call for a strike. President Bush could also convene an emergency board, a move that would block a strike.

Though Bush intervened in the Northwest mechanics dispute, Comair officials predicted he would not do so in this one.

Comair is second only to American Eagle among commuter airlines. In 1993, it became the first commuter service to use jets. The airline operates 110 small jets and eight prop planes. Comair has almost 5,500 employees.

The company urged passengers to check the status of their flights before arriving at the airport by calling Comair reservations at 1-800-354-9822 or visiting www.comair.com.

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