Ata Files Suit Against FedEx

moreluck

golden ticket member
AP
ATA Airlines sues FedEx over military charter deal
Wednesday June 11, 9:04 pm ET
By Tom Murphy, AP Business Writer ATA, in bankruptcy protection, sues FedEx over abrupt end to military charter deal

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- ATA Airlines is suing FedEx Corp. over its decision to end a military charter business, a move the airline says forced it to seek bankruptcy protection and left it financially destroyed.
ATA accused FedEx of breaking a written agreement when it told the airline in January it would no longer receive military passenger service for the government fiscal year ending in 2009, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis.
FedEx notified ATA of the cancellation in a letter that came "out of the blue," said Kenneth Broughton, a Houston-based attorney representing ATA.
He said ATA counted was counting on the military charters to be a "significant profit center."
The charter flights of military personnel and their families generated more than $400 million in annual revenue and were expected to remain a "cornerstone" of the airline's future business, the lawsuit states.
ATA filed for bankruptcy April 2 and abruptly ceased operations the next day.
FedEx spokeswoman Sandra Munoz said her company had no contractual obligation to ATA beyond the current fiscal year, which ends in September.
The military contracts commercial airlines for charter flights organized through two teams of companies.
ATA had flown military charter flights as a member of the FedEx team for more than 20 years. In late 2006, it spent more than $50 million to buy seven DC-10 planes from Northwest Airlines.
Broughton said the airline bought the planes and then spent additional money on hiring and training, because the military prefers wide-body aircraft. He said ATA did this after receiving a written commitment from FedEx that it would continue to receive military charter business through the fiscal year ending in 2009.
"There's absolutely no reason at all to buy a DC-10 except for these military flights," he said. "That's the only reason ATA bought them."
The airline had retrenched in 2006 after emerging from bankruptcy and was focused on increasing its military charter business. It also operated about 50 commercial flights a day mostly between the West Coast and Hawaii when it shut down. It was once the nation's 10th-largest airline.
Broughton said the airline would have remained in business if FedEx had not canceled the contract.
The lawsuit asks for no specific damage amounts. Broughton said they were still tallying them but the total will be within the range of "tens of millions" of dollars.
 

MrFedEx

Engorged Member
Just another example of the way Fred S does business. ATA makes a significant investment in widebody equipment, and then FedEx pulls the rug out beneath them, without notice. Get out your asbestos suit Fred, because there's an especially hot spot in Hell reserved for your sorry butt. No wonder he has bodyguards.
 

Coldworld

60 months and counting
Just another example of the way Fred S does business. ATA makes a significant investment in widebody equipment, and then FedEx pulls the rug out beneath them, without notice. Get out your asbestos suit Fred, because there's an especially hot spot in Hell reserved for your sorry butt. No wonder he has bodyguards.

Is this a fact mrfedex??? Man, he has quite a few lawsuits going on right now.
 

MrFedEx

Engorged Member
I have heard that Smith does have bodyguards, but I cannot verify it from personal observation. Friends in Memphis say he has a couple of security people with him everywhere he goes. If I were Fred, I would definitely have them, especially given all of the irons he has in a bunch of different fires these days. He, and other senior officers of the company rarely venture out to the field these days because they know they aren't going to get a friendly reception. Fred used to be a hero at FedEx...now he's a big ZERO.
 
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