Flight Options downsizes, terminates pilots

Ohio-based Flight Options in late May closed its maintenance facility at Cleveland Cuyahoga Airport and dismissed about 200 employees, 68 of whom were pilots, according to IBT Local 1108, which represents the fractional provider’s pilots. A Flight Options spokeswoman confirmed, “We did have a reduction–they were terminations, not layoffs–[and] the Cleveland maintenance facility has been closed.” In a statement, the company said poor economic conditions and a “reduction in demand” have caused it “to scale the business to match current and future needs and to maintain the overall health of the company.”