Current Operations
Northwest agreed with Pinnacle on a new Air Service Agreement (ASA) on December 21, 2006. The agreement contracts Pinnacle to fly 124 CRJs until 2017. A clause within the ASA stipulates that if Pinnacle and Air Line Pilots Association did not agree on a new pilot contract by 31 March 2007, then Northwest could remove up to 17 CRJs from Pinnacle's fleet. After the deadline passed with no new pilot contract, Northwest exercised its right to remove 17 CRJs from Pinnacle, starting in September 2008 at a rate of two CRJs per month. Ironically, these 17 CRJs were removed from Pinnacle and handed over to Mesaba Airlines in 2008, which Pinnacle acquired in 2010.
Northwest has also allowed Pinnacle to seek flying from other carriers. On April 30, 2007, Pinnacle Airlines Corp. signed a 10 year contract with Delta Air Lines to be a Delta Connection carrier. The 16 Bombardier CRJ 900's began delivery in November 2007 and the deliveries are scheduled to be complete by May 2009. The first batch of delivered aircraft are based in Atlanta and began service in December 2007. As of July 2008, Pinnacle has 11 CRJ-900 operating for Delta Air Lines. On June 10, 2008 Pinnacle announced that Delta planned to withdraw from the contract by 31 July 2008 for failure to make its timetable. However, on July 18, 2008 Delta announced that an agreement had been reached that would allow Pinnacle to continue flying for Delta under the terms of the initial contract. The remaining 4 CRJ-900s will be delivered between January and May 2009, at which point all 15 CRJ-900s will be in service for Delta Connection.
On February 24, 2012, Pinnacle wanted to invoke a 5% permanent pay cut for all pilots – a move which CEO Sean Menke insisted was necessary to prevent the company from filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Less than a month later on March 21 of 2012 however, Menke was given a 60% pay raise from $425,000 to $675,000 along with executive vice president John Spanjers receiving a 45% raise from $275,000 to $400,000. Ten days later, Pinnacle filed for Chapter 11 on April 1, 2012.
The airline has 8,000 employees (at May 2012 – number previous its Chapter 11 restructuring).
Read more about this topic: Pinnacle Airlines
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