=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/news/archive/2003/09/12/f= inancial1754EDT0319.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, September 12, 2003 (AP) CEO warns Midway Airlines faces shutdown (09-12) 14:54 PDT RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- Midway Airlines has notified North Carolina employment officials that the bankrupt carrier could shut down and lay off most of its remaining employees next month if it can't resolve a dispute with its pilots' union. Midway advised the head of the state Commerce Department's dislocated worker unit on Aug. 29 that 210 employees could permanently lose their jobs by Oct. 31 unless the carrier is able to avoid liquidation and emerge from bankruptcy protection. The airline's letter cited difficulty to find financing, agency spokeswoman Reid Hartzoge said. Federal labor laws require companies with 100 or more employees to give notice of impending closings or mass layoffs. Midway had 222 employees in July, the company said in its latest financial report. Midway contends concessions from its pilots are a condition of a loan fr= om an unidentified investor that the airline says it needs to emerge from bankruptcy. The pilots have resisted reopening their labor contract, saying Midway didn't come through on a promise to amend the company's sick-leave policy. Once the busiest airline at Raleigh-Durham International Airport with 40 planes and 2,700 employees, Midway is trying to reinvent itself as a commuter feeder for US Airways. But after two years of Chapter 11 protection, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge A. Thomas Small said late last month he may convert Midway's case to a Chapter 7 liquidation. Small said he may act on Sept. 24 unless the airline can quickly propose a reorganization plan showing how it can continue as a successful operation. =20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2003 AP