Boeing strike is hurting travel

"We're going day by day, but we will have to start laying off some people if this continues," said Joseph C. Berenato, chief executive of Ducommun Inc., which makes wing parts for Boeing's 737 jet at its Monrovia plant. So far the company has reduced the production rate and has been retraining some of its 400 employees to work on other programs to avoid job cuts.

Ducommun is one of more than 5,700 California companies that supply parts and services to Boeing, and most are based in Southern California.

"The longer the strike goes, the deeper the cuts will be," Berenato said, echoing several Los Angeles-based suppliers.

As for travelers, V Australia said Thursday that it had begun notifying passengers of the delay in the launch of the LAX-to-Sydney flight. The start of flights from LAX to Brisbane, Australia, next March is not affected, the airline said.

Airline spokeswoman Heather Jeffery, citing competitive reasons, declined to say exactly how many passengers were affected by the delay but that they numbered in the "several" thousands.

Passengers can either get a refund, rebook the trip with another airline at the carrier's expense -- or reschedule the trip on V Australia on or after March 1. Passengers who reschedule the trip with the airline will receive a $200 voucher for air travel within Australia on its sister carrier, Virgin Blue.

The airline's launch was announced with much fanfare this year and was viewed as welcome competition for travel to Australia, a popular destination long dominated by flights operated by that country's flag carrier, Qantas Airways.

V Australia offered a promotional rate of $777 for an economy-class round-trip ticket, or about half of what Qantas had been charging. Qantas quickly responded by dropping fares below $1,000 as well as offering limited $380 round-trip fares on its new Airbus A380 super jumbo jet that is expected to begin service from LAX to Melbourne this month.

The airline, which could lose millions of dollars in revenue, is likely to seek some compensation from Boeing for the aircraft delay.

"We will certainly be examining our position at a later date, as current focus is on guest re-accommodation," Jeffery said.

V Australia isn't alone. "We are one of a number of airlines impacted by the strike," Swift said in the e-mail to passengers.

Earlier this week, Boeing officials said that because of the strike the first delivery of the 787 jetliner could be delayed again, further frustrating the plane's first customer, Japan's All Nippon Airways. The plane, which the airline had hoped to begin flying a few months ago, may not even be ready for the revised delivery date of August 2009.

"Frankly, we do not know when the strike will end," Boeing's vice president for marketing, Randy Tinseth, said during a news conference in Tokyo this week. "Only when it's over can we develop a production schedule."

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peter.pae@latimes.com