Thursday, August 02, 2012

Pemco World Air Services warns it will lay off nearly 500 at Tampa International Airport (KTPA), Florida

Anyone affected by the impending layoffs who wants to speak to a reporter should contact Jamal Thalji at thalji@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3404 or Jeff Harrington at jharrington@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8242.

Source:  http://www.tampabay.com

TAMPA — PEMCO World Air Services is laying off 474 workers at its aircraft maintenance complex at Tampa International Airport after the loss of a major contract with United Airlines.

PEMCO officials could not immediately be reached for comment. However, based on recent employee head counts, the cuts represent the bulk of the company's operation.

"We're saddened by this turn of events," said Tampa International CEO Joe Lopano in a prepared statement. "No one likes to see layoffs."

In a state-required mass layoff notice sent to Florida officials, PEMCO executives said the "recent sudden cancellation and withdrawal" of all of United's repair business caught it off guard.

"While PEMCO would have preferred giving more notice, this loss of a key customer's business was not foreseen by the company, which has had a long relationship with UAL," company director of human resources Colleen Picard wrote. "Although PEMCO's Tampa facilities will continue operations, these layoff(s) are expected to be permanent."

The news comes just five months after PEMCO filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, blaming a tough economy and a decline in the number of airline maintenance, repair and overhaul orders.

At the time, the company promised to continue to operate in the normal course of business without interruption. 

The cuts rank among the single-largest layoffs statewide this year, second only to a largely seasonal layoff of 608 workers in June by a partnership controlled by strawberry grower Gary Wishnatzki.

PEMCO has been the largest airplane maintenance and repair company at Tampa International, operating out of two cavernous hangars for airlines such as United and JetBlue. While most airlines keep a small crew of mechanics in Tampa to perform overnight repairs and maintenance, planes requiring more complicated repairs spent much more time being worked on in PEMCO's facility.

When it arrived on the scene in 2008, it was viewed as a major coup. The company leased the old US Airways hangar that had been vacant for six years, ever since US Air had filed for bankruptcy and cut 300 workers at the repair site.

In 2010, PEMCO expanded into the airport's other big jet-repair facility, the former Delta Air Lines hangar. Delta had abandoned the facility in 2005 and eliminated 300 jobs there as part of a $240 million cost-cutting plan. 

PEMCO moved its headquarters to Tampa last year from Dothan, Ala., with pledges of continued growth.

"We intend for our Tampa facility to be the company's flagship," then-CEO Wake Smith said at the time, "and we see Tampa as a better market to attract the sort of executive talent we need to lead the company."

But according to Tampa International, PEMCO owes the airport about $188,000 in rent for the hanger space. About $126,000 of that was owed before March's bankruptcy filing. Since then, the airport said, PEMCO had paid its monthly $77,608 rent in May, June and July. However, as of Thursday, the company had yet to pay August's rent, which is now due.

But PEMCO owes money to more than just Tampa International. When the company filed for bankruptcy, according to court records, it owed its creditors $12 million, including the airport and Impact Industrial Supplies, a supplier of airplane parts and equipment in Tampa.

According to the layoff notice filed Thursday, the job cuts would take place between now and Aug. 15. According to PEMCO's letter to the state, 328 of those jobs are employed by the company and 146 are contract workers.

Those set to lose their jobs include: 172 aircraft mechanics, 100 sheet metal mechanics, 49 avionics technicians and 34 quality inspectors.

Anyone affected by the impending layoffs who wants to speak to a reporter should contact Jamal Thalji at thalji@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3404 or Jeff Harrington at jharrington@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8242.

Source:  http://www.tampabay.com

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