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Flight 5481 Fund
A group of US Airways employees have set up a Memorial Fund to honor the lives of those lost in the tragic crash of flight 5481 in Charlotte, North Carolina
- January 8, 2003. Plans are in the works to place a bench or marker at the site. This will be a great tribute to our passengers and fellow co-workers.
Piedmont Aviation Credit Union is accepting donations for this remembrance.
For more information, you can contact the Piedmont Aviation Credit Union at:
Piedmont Aviation Credit Union
5481 Flower Fund Account #80179fu
3810 N. Liberty Street
Winston Salem, NC 27105
Toll Free: (800) 433-7228
Local: (336) 776-1700 ww.ww.ww.ww.ww.ww.ww.
Voluntary Furlough Update
Inflight received more than 112 requests for VF 4. Therefore, there won't be any further involuntary furloughs at this time. There are approximately 1475 due back on June 2, 2003 from VF 1,2 and 3. The deadline for extending these leaves are due March 2, 2003. Assuming not everyone extends, there will be another voluntary furlough, VF 5. There will also be another voluntary separation incentive package (VSIP) offered around the same time. VF 5 and VSIP are expected to be under the same terms as the most recent voluntary furloughs and separation package.
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Pilots fight for pensions
US Airways tells judge it must terminate plan to avoid liquidation
MATTHEW BARAKAT
Associated Press
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - US Airways told a bankruptcy judge Friday that the company faces almost imminent liquidation if it is not permitted to terminate the pension plan for its 6,000 pilots.
The bankrupt airline says it faces a $1.6 billion gap over the next seven years between its pension assets and its liabilities. Resolution of the issue is the last major hurdle it faces to meet its goal of emerging from bankruptcy by the end of March.
But the pilots, who have suffered 1,800 furloughs and have already agreed to $565 million in annual wage concessions to try to keep the company afloat, say termination of their pension is too much to bear.
Nearly 100 pilots attended Friday's hearing to show their displeasure.
"We have already sacrificed a lot," said Bob Lamborn of Kennett Square, Pa., a US Airways pilot for 17 years. "To have them come after our pension now, it's a personal affront."
If US Airways gets what it wants, the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. will take over the plan. In that case, most pilots would receive a pension no greater than $28,500 a year.
That would be supplemented with a new, replacement pension plan implemented by the airline. But it would provide defined contributions instead of defined benefits. That means older pilots would have little time to accumulate savings, while younger pilots would have to a hope for a strong stock market to build a significant nest egg.
If the old plan were to remain intact, most pilots would receive an annual pension of $50,000 to $70,000. Some are in line to receive $100,000 or more.
Pilot Dave Ciabattoni of Wallingford, Pa., estimated that his overall pension will at best be cut in half under US Airways' proposal. He said he did not believe the company's assertion that resolving the pension issue is the airline's final hurdle to financial stability.
"If the difference between solvency and liquidation is this issue, then the company is going to liquidate," he said. "The pilots alone can't save this company."
Many pilots said they also resent the fact that none of the other unions are being asked to sacrifice their pensions. The airline says the pilots' plan is the only one big enough to provide the savings it needs.
US Airways lawyer John Butler said he sympathizes with the pilots, but terminating the plan is necessary to the airline's survival.
"These pilot benefits will never be paid at those (original) levels. They are gone and nobody will get them," Butler said. "If we do not resolve this issue on a timely basis, there will be no airline."
The Retirement Systems of Alabama, a pension fund for public employees in that state, is the airline's main financial sponsor and is in line to take a controlling stake in the airline upon its emergence from bankruptcy.
The pension fund is withholding $200 million in financing until the pension issue is resolved, and Butler said the airline recently missed debt payments as a result.
The airline won a small victory Friday when U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stephen Mitchell agreed to hear testimony on the issue. Lawyers for groups of retired pilots contended the judge did not have authority to rule on the issue and that it should go to arbitration.
Testimony is scheduled to resume Monday morning. US Airways Chief Executive David Siegel is expected to testify.
ww.ww.ww.ww.ww.ww.ww. US Airways says pensions threaten survival
The airline told a judge it had no options and would liquidate if it could not terminate the retirement plan for 6,000 pilots.
By Matthew Barakat
Associated Press
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - US Airways told a bankruptcy judge yesterday that it faced almost imminent liquidation if it were not permitted to terminate the pension plan for its 6,000 pilots.
US Airways lawyer John W. Butler Jr. said terminating the plan was necessary to the airline's survival.
"These pilot benefits will never be paid at those [original] levels. They are gone, and nobody will get them," Butler said. "If we do not resolve this issue on a timely basis, there will be no airline."
The dominant carrier at Philadelphia International Airport faces a $1.6 billion gap over the next seven years between its pension assets and its liabilities, the company said yesterday. Resolution of the issue is the last major hurdle it faces to meet its goal of emerging from bankruptcy by the end of March.
But the pilots, who have suffered 1,800 furloughs and have already agreed to $565 million in annual wage concessions to try to keep the company afloat, say termination of their pension is too much to bear. Nearly 100 pilots attended yesterday's hearing.
"We have already sacrificed a lot," said Bob Lamborn of Kennett Square, Pa., a US Airways pilot for 17 years. "To have them come after our pension now, it's a personal affront."
If US Airways gets what it wants, the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. will take over the plan. In that case, most pilots would receive a pension no greater than $28,500 a year.
That would be supplemented with a new, replacement pension plan implemented by the airline. But the new plan would involve defined contributions instead of defined benefits. That means an older pilot would have little time to accumulate savings, while younger pilots would have to hope for a strong stock market to build a significant nest egg.
If the old plan were to remain intact, most pilots would receive an annual pension of $50,000 to $70,000. Some would receive $100,000 or more per year.
One pilot, Dave Ciabattoni of Wallingford, Pa., estimated that his overall pension would at best be cut in half under US Airways' proposal. He said he did not believe the company's assertion that resolving the pension issue was its final hurdle to financial stability.
"If the difference between solvency and liquidation is this issue, then the company is going to liquidate," he said. "The pilots alone can't save this company."
The Retirement Systems of Alabama, a pension fund for public employees in that state, is the airline's main financial sponsor, and is in line to take a controlling stake in the airline upon its emergence from bankruptcy. The pension fund is withholding $200 million in financing until the pension issue is resolved, and Butler said the airline recently missed debt payments as a result.
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