Air wars

Saipan’s air transportation situation is getting mighty interesting. Our old friend JAL has been getting black eyes in the international press as reports of mismanagement and executive infighting are circulating; on one level it’s kind of moot for us, given that JAL no longer flies here, but overall it’s still newsworthy.

And “Air Saipan,” which is not an airline, remains enigmatic (and I’m being charitable), but has managed to land (if nothing else) a lot of ink in the local press.

Meanwhile, Taga Air was ankle-deep in a bit of intrigue as word spread that it was no longer offering scheduled service to Tinian, but the more recent word is that they never offered scheduled service to begin with, they’re strictly a charter operation.

Whew.

And now the plot thickens. It’s nail-biting time for our beloved Northwest Airlines. They’re not only in bankruptcy, but are facing the prospect of a pilot strike that would close them down for good.

As in: Gone forever.

As in: No more flights.

Period.

Northwest’s pilots tallied an overwhelming 92 percent vote in favor of striking if the company whacks the pilots’ wages. The company appears to be trying to do just that, and has asked the bankruptcy court to nullify the pilots’ contract.

Which, to my mind, would make the pilots slave labor, but I digress. If the pilots do strike, the airline will ask the court to force the pilots to work, which would make them slave labor big time, but I digress again.

Ahem, where were we? Ah, bankruptcy court. The court is giving the airline and the pilots a last chance to hammer out some kind of agreement, and the negotiations are grinding along in New York as I write these very words. We’re talking real-time news on this one as we follow it minute by minute…it’s more dramatic than the Olympics, given that it has very real consequences for all of us.

If no agreement is reached, and if Northwest says that it is going to whack the pilot’s pay, then the pilots will strike.

Northwest’s pilots have already made drastic salary concessions, but I haven’t followed all the numbers on that. The mechanics went on strike last year, and were promptly replaced, so they lost that battle big time. The flight attendants have just reached an agreement with the airline, so that’s a quiet issue for right now.

But it’s the pilots who hold the key on the action now.

My pals are moaning about the possibility of losing frequent flier miles, but I’m more concerned about losing the airline service itself. Northwest has been so nice to me over the years that I’d feel downright grounded without them. This airline has a lot of friendly and dedicated workers, and they deserve good jobs.

Well, there’s nothing your friendly and dedicated columnist can do except sit and wait and wonder.

As for the Commonwealth, it’s is going to be in the hurt locker if Northwest Airlines joins names of goners like Eastern, PanAm, and Braniff.

We’ll just have to wait and see.

And worry.

(Ed Stephens Jr. is an economist and columnist for the Saipan Tribune. E-mail him at Ed@SaipanEconomist.com.)