“The airline, our associates, partners, passengers, creditors, shareholders and its other stakeholders, including the communities served by Republic, will be best served by an orderly, court-supervised restructuring”, said Bedford. “We filed with a strong core business and the liquidity resources necessary to carry out our restructuring plan”.
Advertisement
It operates about 30 percent of the flights at Port Columbus under the banner of major airlines such as Delta and American. Nevertheless, the company reduced its flight capacity by 11% during 2015.
While Republic did manage to reach a new collective bargaining agreement with its pilots some four months ago, it didn’t happen in time to overcome an exodus of pilots to better paying airlines during several years of substandard compensation at the Indianapolis-based regional. The Indianapolis-based carrier claims the move will allow it to continue normal flight schedules, while restructuring its finance position and contracts.
The short-haul carrier, which feeds flights to American, Delta and United airlines, listed assets of USD$3.6 billion and USD$3.0 billion of liabilities, court documents showed. The union delayed a vote on a contract offer because, the Teamsters said, the proposal would have limited communication between the union and pilots. (NASDAQ:RJET) announced that it and certain of its subsidiaries have filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. An estimated 13,000 to 15,000 pilots at American, Delta, Southwest and United will retire between now and 2022 and their ranks will be filled to a significant degree by regional pilots.
If you fly on American Eagle, Delta Connection or United Express, there is a good chance you have been on a plane operated by Republic Airways, which just filed for bankruptcy protection.
Bedford said last fall that the big carriers and cargo airlines have hired pilots away from regional carriers, worsening the shortage.
The company, which has 240 jets and about 1,250 daily flights, also had been working to remove 50-seat Embraer jets and Bombardier Q400 turboprops from its fleet as airlines shift to larger, more efficient regional jets.
Shares of Republic Airways are falling almost 81% in pre-market trading.
Advertisement
Bombardier, more than two years late with the C Series and about $2 billion over budget, is poised to receive a $1 billion cash injection from the Quebec government to keep the program going and has asked the federal Canadian government for aid.
