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Aviation workers face tough times

By Chris Walsh, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published July 8, 2008 at 9:05 p.m.

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Kent Katnik found work as a pilot for Frontier Airlines after being laid off by United Airlines following the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Photo by Preston Gannaway / The Rocky

Kent Katnik found work as a pilot for Frontier Airlines after being laid off by United Airlines following the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Kent Katnik fetches a baby stroller for a young family flying on his Frontier flight in 2004.

Photo by Dennis Schroeder / The Rocky/2004

Kent Katnik fetches a baby stroller for a young family flying on his Frontier flight in 2004.

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Pilot Kent Katnik coasted to a soft landing after United Airlines cut his position in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks, finding steady work flying corporate jets before eventually landing a job at Frontier Airlines.

Some of his former colleagues weren't so lucky.

"I felt very fortunate for the work I found, but that was certainly not the case for most people," said Katnik, now a first officer at Frontier. "A lot went to work at Home Depot or started flipping homes or selling used cars. A couple went back to school."

Katnik dodged the layoff bullet this time around.

But hundreds of other Frontier and United Airlines workers will lose their jobs over the next few months. Frontier has informed state officials that it will slash 456 local jobs this fall, while United has started cutting 150 positions in Colorado.

A lucky few might find work at another airline or at least in the aviation industry.

Most, however, will be forced to look elsewhere, observers and economists say. Nearly every large U.S. carrier is slashing positions, meaning there are precious few openings for workers affected by job cuts.

While Southwest Airlines plans to boost its local work force by 100 positions ahead of an upcoming expansion, that only accounts for a fraction of the job losses locally and nationwide.

"For any open job you're competing against 6,000 or 7,000 people from across the country," said John Stemmler, head of the Frontier Airline Pilots Association. "So you're going to be up against some stiff competition."

United and Frontier handle about 75 percent of Denver International Airport's traffic, accounting for most of the airline workers.

Both are struggling financially amid record oil prices that have battered the entire industry.

Frontier, which filed for bankruptcy protection in April, plans to ground seven planes and reduce the number of seats it flies by 17 percent this fall. Its job cuts - to take place in September and October - include 152 pilots and 169 flight attendants, among other positions, according to state officials.

Frontier officials declined to comment on the employee reduction, so it's unclear if the carrier will shed more jobs in relation to the capacity cuts.

United is reducing its local work force by 150 positions, including 50 customer service workers and 100 ramp employees who work on the tarmac.

Combined, the job losses at Frontier and United account for nearly 5 percent of the state's 13,000 aviation jobs.

"The aviation industry is certainly one of the key industries for the metro Denver region, but it is facing very challenging times," said economist Patty Silverstein, president of Development Research Partners in Littleton. "Are there many opportunities for these workers to stay within the aviation industry? I'm a little skeptical of that. I think that the best opportunities for these folks are outside of aviation right now."

The job cuts also will lead to another 2,300 job losses throughout the economy, Silverstein estimated, affecting not only aviation supply companies but also other types of businesses where those employees spend their money.

Denver's economy likely can absorb the layoffs, she said, and most airline workers probably will stay in the area because there aren't many jobs in the industry elsewhere.

Flight attendants and customer service workers will have the easiest time transitioning, as their skills easily transfer to other industries. Highly specialized workers - such as pilots and aircraft mechanics - might face a tougher challenge.

Still, most of those being let go are on the lower end of the pay scale, meaning it's a bit easier for them to find work that pays a similar salary, economists said.

Some pilots might simply need to find a temporary solution.

"The hope is that Frontier will recall pilots as things go along," Stemmler said. Pilots also could find opportunities overseas, particularly in Asia, where airlines continue to grow. Representatives from an Indian airline, for example, are in Denver this week recruiting pilots.

Katnik, the pilot at Frontier, said he feels for his colleagues and the challenges they face.

"I'm not affected in the sense that I will lose my job at this point, but this is affecting me very much in other ways," he said. "There's a little bit more stress in the cockpit, and these people have families to support and now their jobs are just going away."

But his experience shows that it's possible to land on your feet.

His advice: Consider every job.

"Never think that any job is beneath you," Katnik said. "I'm sure many pilots never thought they'd be selling used cars, but sometimes that's what you have to do to pay the bills, keep the family in clothes and put food on the table."

Airline job cuts

Frontier Airlines will cut 456 local jobs in Sept. and Oct.

Customer service agents

50

Scouts

19

Aircraft appearance agents

19

Dispatchers

3

Flight attendants

169

A & P mechanics

24

Aircraft/shop mechanics

9

Inspectors

1

Avionics technicians

4

Lead support shop workers

2

Production control coordinators

2

Lead A & P mechanic

1

Ground equipment mechanic

1

First officers

152

United Airlines this week started cutting 150 jobs

Customer service workers

50

Ramp workers

100

Comments

  • July 9, 2008

    9:02 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    sunflower writes:

    Now that we've sent all of our good paying jobs overseas, why not our experienced commercial pilots? Hopefully the politicians will next to be exported! Then the Attorneys. The future is bright!

  • July 9, 2008

    9:30 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Rdtrip2Europa writes:

    Yeah that’s it dumb dumb, it’s all the fault of the "Greenies"... Perhaps you should get on your knees, pray to your autographed 8x10 glossy of "W" for guidance. Maybe he'll hear your prayers and instead of attacking Iran before he's pushed out in January, he will turn his guns on the REAL threat, us "Greenies"!
    A mantra of the Dems from the 90's seems partially relevant here: "It’s the economy stupid!"

  • July 9, 2008

    3:08 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    jacka writes:

    How Long Do We Have with Radicals to the rescue?

    About the time our original thirteen states adopted their new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years earlier:

    "A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government."

    "A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury."

    "From that moment on, the majority always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship."

    "The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years"

    "During those 200 years, those nations always progressed through the following sequence:

    1. from bondage to spiritual faith;

    2. from spiritual faith to great courage;

    3. from courage to liberty;

    4. from liberty to abundance;

    5. from abundance to complacency;

    6. from complacency to apathy;

    7. from apathy to dependence;

    8. from dependence back into bondage"

  • July 9, 2008

    4:16 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Who_Me writes:

    Scouts?

  • July 9, 2008

    5:07 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    P_Denver writes:

    Don't worry, this is temporary. President Obama will fix it.

    First he will nationalize the oil companies and control prices
    -- After all, it's working in Venezuela for Mr. Chavez
    Then he will nationalize the airline industry
    -- Because it's working so well in China (ignore the crashes)
    Then he will regulate prices, on a tiered basis
    -- The rich will pay more (because they can)
    -- The poor will fly for free

    Somehow this will all work out just fine, people will be happy, the planes will be full, and everyone will make money -- especially all the bureaucrats in the new "Department of Oil and Airline Regulation" that will be created to monitor this.

    Patience, people, patience. It will all be fine. Change is good.