Comair to get bigger planes, will offer first-class

<p>Comair, which emerged from bankruptcy three weeks ago with parent Delta Air Lines Inc., said Thursday that it will get 14 new 76-seat aircraft that will replace 50-seaters and also offer first-class cabins for the first time in the regional carrier's 30-year history.</p><p>"This is very big news for us. We're very excited to have this growth opportunity," Comair president Don Bornhorst said in an interview. "We've gone through the heavy lifting that is restructuring. It kind of confirms in our mind that we have turned the page in a very difficult chapter in our history."</p><p>The planes are Delta's first new order for Comair in three years and the regional carrier's first major development since coming out of bankruptcy April 30, following nearly two years of cutbacks that included $33 million in employee concessions. Comair employees learned of the new planes Thursday afternoon at a gathering in nearby Erlanger, Ky., at the company's headquarters.</p><p>Comair's fleet will get 14 Bombardier CRJ-900 aircraft starting in August. The 76-seat planes will include 12 first-class seats; Delta and Comair officials still are deciding where the planes will fly but said they will likely be routes heavily used by business travelers in Cincinnati and the Northeast.</p><p>The planes, reflecting a trend among regional carriers toward bigger aircraft, can generate more revenue and will be more economical to operate than the 14 CRJ-100 50-seaters Delta is selling back to Bombardier.</p><p>Michael Boyd, who heads The Boyd Group aviation consultants in Evergreen, Colo., said Comair needed the upgrade because its fleet is dominated by 50-seat planes.</p><p>"They have to do that or they're not going to be in business," Boyd said. "Comair had way too many 50-seat planes."</p><p>Comair became a Delta subsidiary seven years ago. Now that both are out of bankruptcy, Delta officials have said they will consider selling Comair, a Delta connection partner since 1984.</p><p>A Delta official said there is no timetable for a decision on selling Comair.</p><p>"Regardless of the ownership structure, Comair will continue to be a major partner," said James Whitehurst, the Atlanta-based carrier's chief operating officer.</p><p>"You're dealing with a situation where probably this is a good sign (for Comair)," Boyd said. "But if Delta decides to shut Comair down, they can move those 76-seaters in a minute."</p><p>Paul Denke, a Comair pilot and local spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association, said the first-class seats should help the carrier attract more business fliers.</p><p>"We've been hoping to hear something good, after all the sacrifices that the employee group had to endure," Denke said.</p><p>Although the fleet change doesn't mean additional routes for Comair, the new aircraft will result in 75 new flight attendant positions.</p><p>Comair, with more than 7,000 employees before it entered bankruptcy, was down to 6,400 but now has 6,600 employees, said spokeswoman Kate Marx.</p><p>Comair also Thursday showed off a plane repainted with Delta's new post-bankruptcy look, featuring a three-dimensional red logo flying across a blue background.</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x2ded198)</p><p>HASH(0x2deed94)</p>

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