its all a restructure...
Retirements fuel Skywest layoffs
Monday, 15 December 2008
Western Australian regional carrier Skywest Airlines has restructured operations, resulting in the loss of 19 staff.
Group chief operating officer Mike Hoar said the retrenchments were part of normal operations.
"No company likes letting go of staff, particularly at this time of the year, but it's a tough market," said Hoar.
"Fortunately, many of the redundancies were due to early retirements and natural attrition." He said the decision was made some time ago and was not influenced by the news that mining giant Rio Tinto was also planning to cut its workforce. Skywest recently won the contract to transport workers to Rio's mine sites in Western Australia using Fokker 100 aircraft.
Hoar said the carrier was fortunate in having a good mix of RPT (regular passenger transport) and charter work which would continue to operate as scheduled. Skywest had no plans for new routes but was looking for opportunities to expand the network.