Arrow Air my cease operations

[Henry Tenby]

The following news was reported on APR 12 2010 in the South Florida Business Journal:

Cargo carrier Arrow Air has notified the state that it may cease operations and lay off all 473 employees at its Miami International Airport headquarters.

Arrow VP and General Counsel Patrice Robinet told the state in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice that all employees at its Miami location were being told on April 9 of its “possible need to permanently cease all operations and to terminate all employees.”

Employees would have no transfer, bumping or reassignment rights if the facility closes.

“The revenue environment has just been tough. Fuel has gone up and yields have gone down,” Robinet told the Business Journal. “Arrow has been through challenging times and looked at a number of restructuring options.”

Those options have included talking to “a number of potential investors,” he added.

On April 8, one day before Arrow’s notice to the state, industry publication Air Cargo News reported that another Miami-based carrier, Centurion Air Cargo, is in the process of bidding for Arrow.

“The move, if successful, would see Centurion absorb [Arrow’s] fleet of MD-11Fs, DC-10Fs and B757 freighters and create a powerful American all-cargo airline, with a particularly strong network into Latin America,” Air Cargo News reported, citing unnamed sources within Centurion.

Robinet would not confirm or deny that Centurion is a potential investor.

A Centurion official did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Despite Arrow’s challenges, the company was the largest cargo carrier at MIA in 2009, said airport spokesman Marc Henderson. Arrow in 2009 flew 203,965.07 tons, an 11.7 percent increase over 2008. The company remained the leader at MIA through February, flying 33.7 percent more volume than during the prior year period.

According to the company’s Web site, Arrow has operated in South Florida for 57 years. It operates more than 60 weekly flights to Latin America and the Caribbean.

Centurion flew 107,356.14 tons at MIA in 2009, down 41.5 percent from 2008 and almost half of Arrow’s total.

Employees represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union would be impacted if Arrow closes its MIA facility, according to the company’s notice to the state. The notice did not specify how many union employees could be impacted.

Scott Hegland, acting president of the Teamsters’ airline division, Local 747, did not immediately return a call for comment.

Given the possible buyout and the fact that MIA has other carriers that could pick up the slack, it’s too early to tell if MIA would see an appreciable drop in cargo if Arrow closes, airport spokesman Marc Henderson said.

Still, the airport has concerns about the job losses, Henderson noted.

“Obviously, we don’t want to see anyone lose their job,” he said.