fifth edition

Transcription

fifth edition

The
P
ilots
of
ALPA
2013
PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.
FIFTH EDITION
AirTran (Page 14)
Air Transat (Page 15)
Air Transport International
(Page 16)
Air Wisconsin (Page 17)
Alaska (Page 18)
American Eagle (Page 19)
Atlantic Southeast (Page 20)
Bearskin (Page 21)
Calm Air (Page 22)
Canadian North (Page 23)
CanJet (Page 24)
Capital Cargo (Page 25)
CommutAir (Page 26)
Compass (Page 27)
Continental (Page 28)
Delta (Page 29)
Evergreen (Page 30)
ExpressJet (Page 31)
FedEx Express (Page 32)
First Air (Page 33)
Hawaiian (Page 34)
Island Air (Page 35)
Jazz (Page 36)
Kelowna Flightcraft (Page 37)
Mesa (Page 38)
North American (Page 39)
Piedmont (Page 40)
Pinnacle (Page 41)
PSA (Page 42)
Ryan (Page 43)
Spirit (Page 44)
Sun Country (Page 45)
Trans States (Page 46)
United (Page 47)
Wasaya (Page 48)
January 2013 Air Line Pilot 1
A member service of Air Line Pilot.
january 2013 • Volume 82, Number 1
COMMENTARY
4 Take Note
5 Aviation Matters
Forward Progress
DEPARTMENTS
625Preflight
Facts, Figures, and Info
50 ALPA Toolbox
The
P
ilots
of
ALPA
2013
FIFTH EDITION
Training Seminar
Snapshots
51 Health Watch
Hearing Loss: What
Did He Say?
53 The Landing
Double Take
54 We Are ALPA
ALPA Resources and
Contact Numbers
13Introduction
14AirTran
15 Air Transat
16 Air Transport
International
17 Air Wisconsin
18Alaska
19 American Eagle
20 Atlantic
Southeast
21Bearskin
22 Calm Air
23 Canadian North
24CanJet
25 Capital Cargo
26CommutAir
27Compass
28 Continental
29Delta
30Evergreen
31ExpressJet
32 FedEx Express
33 First Air
34Hawaiian
35 Island Air
36 Jazz
37Kelowna
Flightcraft
38Mesa
39 North American
40Piedmont
41Pinnacle
42PSA
43Ryan
44Spirit
45 Sun Country
46 Trans States
47United
48 Wasaya
About the Cover
An Embraer 135 at the gate,
looking due east
toward the sunrise.
Photo by F/O
Braden Gehrmann
(American Eagle).
Download a QR
reader to your
smartphone, scan the code, and
read the magazine.
Air Line Pilot (ISSN 0002-242X) is published
monthly by the Air Line Pilots Association,
International, affiliated with AFL-CIO, CLC.
Editorial Offices: 535 Herndon Parkway,
PO Box 1169, Herndon, VA 20172-1169.
Telephone: 703-481-4460. Fax: 703- 4642114. Copyright © 2013—Air Line Pilots
Association, International, all rights
reserved. Publication in any form without
permission is prohibited. Air Line Pilot
and the ALPA logo Reg. U.S. Pat. and T.M.
Office. Federal I.D. 36-0710830. Periodicals
postage paid at Herndon, VA 20172, and
additional offices.
Postmaster: Send address changes to
Air Line Pilot, PO Box 1169, Herndon, VA
20172-1169.
Canadian Publications Mail Agreement
#40620579: Return undeliverable magazines sent to Canadian addresses to 2835
Kew Drive, Windsor, ON, Canada N8T 3B7.
Take HOT TOPICS
Note In This Issue
Anyone who has been around me for any
length of time knows that I am a huge
Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band fan.
I’m like most followers of “The Boss”:
true believers in his music—his lyrics are
like gospel, and we feel saved at the end of
each of his concerts. With each Springsteen
song, we dissect the
words and try to relate
their meaning to the
facets of our lives.
Regarding my job,
let’s take the song
“Reason to Believe”
with its refrain, “At the
end of every hard-earned day, people find
some reason to believe.”
For ALPA pilots, every day is a hardearned day. Flight after flight, ALPA pilots
safely and securely transport their passengers and cargo in good weather and in
bad, 365 days a year—the reasons so many
people put their lives and their livelihoods
in the pilots’ hands. For their dedication
to the job and love of flying, they ask for a
decent wage, fair work rules, and a quality
of life for their families (see page 13 for an
update on all of our pilot groups).
For ALPA pilot volunteers, they have the
added responsibility of helping
their members with important
matters related to their contracts,
interacting with management
and government representatives,
answering the needs of their pilot
groups, and so much more.
And for ALPA staff, we support your
initiatives, providing expertise, experience, and guidance on a broad range of
issues. We work hard on your behalf every
single day.
And ALPA’s reason to believe?
We believe that through our collective
efforts, we can enhance airline safety and
security for the traveling public. We believe
that when ALPA coordinates with industry
and government, we can ensure that the
airline industry in North America remains
prosperous throughout the decades to
come. We believe that if we support each
other and stand strong and unified in the
face of adversity, we will remain the largest, most successful airline pilots union in
the world.
And at the end of every hard-earned
day, the members of the Air Line Pilots
Association, Int’l, are proud professional
pilots who still believe they have the best
office view in the world.
Marie Schwartz
Director, ALPA Communications
[email protected]
4 Air Line Pilot January 2013
What’s the Latest on…
Continental and
United Pilots
See pages 28
and 47
Pinnacle
Bankruptcy Woes
See page 41
Also in This Issue…
Why You Should Be
Concerned About Abu Dhabi
See the latest Call to Action page 7
Abu Dhabi
Updates on
Canadian Issues
See pages 9 and 10
AviationMatters
Forward Progress
T
he past year presented many challenges for our union.
Armed with both overwhelming success and painful
setbacks, we are poised to enter 2013 strategically positioned to move forward. To do so effectively, we must evaluate
both the positives and negatives so that we can reflect, adapt,
and evolve.
If I’ve learned anything in the
past 24 months, it’s that nothing is
easy in the airline industry, especially
when coupled with the politics of
Washington, D.C., and Ottawa. Make
no mistake, our success was driven by
our unity—mobilizing our critical mass
and unmatched professional resources
and driving toward our goals at the
bargaining table and with our governments.
At the negotiating table, I was inspired by the resolve and
unity of our pilots, especially when faced with seemingly
irresolvable standoffs. We witnessed firsthand that when unified, our pilots rise against the odds and secure progressive
contracts that improve our members’ quality of life.
Employing traditional and nontraditional bargaining tactics
(see “ALPA Toolbox,” page 50), we secured industry-leading contracts at Delta and FedEx Express, well ahead of the amendable
date. We are taking the steps necessary to successfully merge
pilot groups at United and Continental, AirTran and Southwest,
Air Transport International and Capital Cargo, and Atlantic
Southeast and ExpressJet. We helped American Eagle look
bankruptcy in the eye and emerge with a contract intact; and
as I write this, we’re working as hard as we can, and at every
level, to produce the successful restructuring of Pinnacle. I hope
to add them to the hard-won achievements in 2013. (Read
updates on all 35 ALPA pilot groups beginning on page 13.)
This past year also brought measurable success in the halls
of Congress and Parliament.
In Washington, D.C., our tireless efforts achieved results in
many critical areas: passage of a fully funded FAA reauthorization bill; introduction of the Safe Skies Act to right the injustice
of the cargo “carveout” in U.S. flight- and duty-time rules; pushing back against the EU’s illegal emissions trading scheme; and
a law that demands accountability and transparency from the
Export-Import Bank to save U.S. airline jobs.
Calling on our government to do its share in protecting the
livelihood of U.S. airline pilot jobs, we rolled out our comprehensive “Leveling the Playing Field” initiative, with sound recommendations on what it will take to secure our pilots’ futures.
In Canada, we continue to combat a Temporary Foreign
Worker Program that allows the seasonal employment of overseas pilots while ALPA Canadian pilots remain on furlough. Also
in Canada, we are fully engaged in the process to modernize
pilot flight- and duty-time regulations and rest requirements,
and brought significant attention to the vital need to improve
navigation facilities at our far northern airports. We will remain
vigilant to ensure that the pilots’ voice is heard on these important matters.
But despite our victories, there is still much to do. The challenges for 2013—some carried over from 2012’s unfinished
to-do list—will require equal unity and perseverance from our
members, and more. We need to resolve a number of ongoing
contract negotiations and mergers for our members in 2013.
T
oday, I challenge each
and every ALPA member
to recommit to our union.
As I’ve said to you before, if we
are united, we’ll thwart the
obstacles ahead.
This will take patience and compromise from both sides of
the table.
Across the globe, foreign airlines continue to encroach
on our international routes, backed by their governments’
pro-aviation policies and, all too often, our own governments’
support. Many of these airlines are becoming increasingly
sophisticated in Washington, D.C., and Ottawa, which demands
that we up our game to stave off their attempts to overturn our
regulations on foreign ownership and control and cabotage.
As the members of the Air Line Pilots Association, we need
unity to confront the issues that face us. We must set aside our
differences to accomplish the challenging tasks ahead. As the
airline industry continues to consolidate, we must continue to
work together, not against each other, if we are to succeed in
this newly hypercompetitive international marketplace.
Let’s not wait until the state-owned airlines in the EU, China,
and the Gulf are in our own backyard—they are almost here.
Let’s continue to lead the revitalized labor movement in our
industry and hurdle these obstacles by capitalizing on the
opportunities before us. Our livelihoods depend on it.
Today, I challenge each and every ALPA member to recommit to our union. As I’ve said to you before, if we are united,
we’ll thwart the obstacles ahead.
So keep informed. Stay engaged. And never quit.
Capt. Lee Moak, ALPA President
FACTS, FIGURES, AND INFO
n Airline Industry Update
 According
to The Dallas
Morning News, American
Airlines pilots approved
a six-year contract with
American Airlines on Dec. 7,
2012, paving the way for the
airline to settle its affairs and
emerge from bankruptcy
court in the first part of 2013.
The airline will start recalling
furloughed pilots beginning
in January and will continue
to recall as many as 40 per
month.
 Per l’aviation.ca, in Novem
ber 2012 Air Transat
celebrated the
25th anniversary
of its
inaugural flight.
On Nov. 14,
1987, an Air
Transat
Lockheed L-1011 with 360
passengers aboard flew from
Montreal to Acapulco.
 According to Morningstar
News, UPS announced it has
developed and is testing
several new technologies,
including a new class of
fire-retardant containers
to hold packages, that will
keep fires from burning
inside the bellies of cargo
airplanes.
 The Hill reported that
in late November 2012
the Senate passed the
No-Hassle Flying Act,
which would allow the
Transportation Security
Administration to determine
whether checked baggage
on a flight originating at
an airport outside the U.S.
must be rescreened in the
U.S. before it can continue
on any
additional
flights if
the baggage has
already been screened in
the foreign airport.
 The Department of
Transportation announced
that through September
2012, 83 percent of all
flights took off within 15
minutes of their scheduled
departure times. The agency
reported that 95 percent
of Hawaiian Airlines’ flights
took off on time, earning the
airline the top spot for best
performance, followed by US
Airways with 89 percent and
Delta with 87 percent.
 According to Flight Safety
Information, Transport
Canada senior officials
acknowledged that the
agency is having a difficult
time filling inspector positions, with 100 inspector
jobs currently vacant.
 The Transportation
Security Administration
reported that it plans to
improve and expand upon
its use of bomb-sniffing
dogs through a research
project on the use of canine
teams at the Department
of Homeland Security
(DHS). The DHS Science and
Technology Directorate has
approximately $650,000 to
spend on one-year research
contracts for the program. l
MarketWatch
Airlines
Piedmont, PSA
American Eagle
Bearskin, Calm Air
Alaska
Delta
Jazz
Continental, United
AirTran
FedEx Express
Hawaiian
Spirit
Atlantic Southeast, ExpressJet Air Transat
Air Transport Int’l, Capital Cargo Intl
Pinnacle
Parent Company
US Airways Group, Inc. AMR Corp.1
Exchange Income Corporation
Alaska Holdings, Inc.
Delta Air Lines
Chorus Aviation United Continental Holdings, Inc. Southwest Airlines
FedEx Corporation2
Hawaiian Holdings, Inc.
Spirit Airlines, Inc. SkyWest, Inc.
Transat A.T. Inc.
Air Transport Services Group, Inc.
Pinnacle Airlines Corp3
Stock Symbol
NYSE: LCC
OTC: AAMR.Q
TSX: EIF
NSYE: ALK
NYSE: DAL
TSX: CHR.B
NSYE: UAL
NSYE: LUV
NYSE: FDX
NASDAQ: HA
NASDAQ: SAVE
NASDAQ: SKYW
TSX: TRZ.B
NASDAQ: ATSG
OTC: PNCL.Q
11/30/2011
$4.72
$0.32
$22.89
$34.71
$8.12
$3.19
$17.97
$8.55
$82.56
$5.95
$16.13
$12.13
$6.72
$4.84
$2.01
1 AMR stock is no longer traded on the NYSE. The price shown is the over-the-counter traded value.
2 FedEx Express had a dividend payout of $ 0.19 on Nov. 14, 2012.
3 Pinnacle stock is no longer traded on the NASDAQ. The price shown is the over-the-counter traded value.
11/30/2012
$12.89
$0.50
$28.61
$42.75
$10.00
$3.82
$20.22
$9.53
$89.53
$6.24
$16.78
$11.59
$5.37
$3.79
$0.01
% Chg.
173.1%
56.3%
25.0%
23.2%
23.2%
19.7%
12.5%
11.5%
8.4%
4.9%
4.0%
-4.5%
-20.1%
-21.7%
-99.5%
Call to Action—
Stop New CBP Preclearance Site
In Abu Dhabi
n FrontLines
n KCM Use Surpasses
Two Million Mark
Alternative security screening of pilots at Known
Crewmember® access
points recently passed the
two million mark. Although
the numbers continue to
increase, in a recent week
crewmember throughput at
68 active access points at 28
airports averaged 99,450 per
week, 14,200 per day, and
3,552 per airport each week.
Planning is under way to add
more airports in 2013.
Pilots are reminded to
register and use the KCM
barcode cards/tags upon
receiving them from their
respective airlines. The cards/
tags significantly help expedite the process of clearing
pilots through KCM. Go to
www.mykcmsupport.com to
register the card/tags.
For more information,
select the KCM tab on the
ALPA smartphone app for
iPhones and Droids, or go to
www.knowncrewmember.org.
n ALPA Comments on
French Court Decision on
Concorde Accident
“ALPA welcomes the French
court’s decision” regarding its announcement on
Nov. 29, 2012, to overturn
previous convictions against
Continental Airlines and one
of its mechanics in connection
with the Air France Concorde
accident in 2000. The decision
“recognizes that the only way
our industry can do everything
The U.S. and United Arab Emirates (UAE) governments are in
discussions to create a new U.S. Customs and
Border Protection (CBP) preclearance facility
at Abu Dhabi International Airport, and Etihad
Airways’ CEO is “confident” they will succeed.
An Abu Dhabi CBP preclearance facility will
benefit state-owned Etihad; but for U.S. pilots, Scan the QR code to
read a letter from Capt.
it would be another competitive advantage
handed to foreign airlines by flawed U.S. policy. Lee Moak.
ALPA members have the ability to directly influence the
decision on this proposal—by contacting the White House
and telling the administration that this plan would represent a
serious threat to U.S. airline pilot jobs and the
U.S. airline industry.
Scan the QR code above to read a letter
from Capt. Lee Moak, ALPA’s president,
explaining why a CBP preclearance site would
be a mistake and why ALPA support for this
Scan the QR code to
campaign is so crucial. For more information,
participate in this
important Call to Action. go to levelingtheplayingfield.ALPA.org. l
possible to prevent such a
tragedy from happening again
is not through criminalization
of professional human error,
but by strongly encouraging
the exchange of safety information essential to detecting
hazards before accidents
occur,” the Association
commented.
“Threatening criminal
prosecution of airline industry
professionals, who only seek
to perform their jobs while
maintaining the highest levels
of safety, will discourage the
data sharing that forms the
foundation of a proactive
safety culture designed to address safety risks before they
lead to incidents or accidents.
“ALPA mourns the loss of
our colleagues and all who
perished in the accident.
Our industry must ensure
that their legacy is one of
enhanced safety for all who
depend on air transportation.
Our success in that effort
depends on a safety culture
focused not on assigning
blame but on preventing
accidents.”
Training topics included
the basics for MEC ProStans
Committee work plus extensive presentations on mergerrelated issues, an examination
of ALPA’s Code of Ethics, and
realistic, hands-on case scenarios. Attendees also discussed
the demand for confidentiality,
neutrality, and unbiased peerto-peer conflict resolution.
The current syllabus is used
for both initial and recurrent
training and was designed to
be taken on the road to reach
a broader range of pilot representatives and to standardize
the services available. More
sessions are planned for May
n ALPA ProStans Hosts
Training Event
More than 40 ALPA pilot
volunteers from 11 airlines
attended Professional
Standards training on Nov. 13,
2012, in Houston, Tex.
The Continental and
ExpressJet Master Executive
Councils (MECs) cosponsored
the event, which was held in
their joint offices.
More than 40 ALPA pilot volunteers from 11 airlines attend
ProStans training in November in Houston, Tex.
and November of 2013.
Professional Standards
support is provided by pilot
peers and is a valued service
available to all ALPA members. The program promotes
professionalism and unity.
ProStans representatives
serve as stewards of ALPA’s
Code of Ethics.
is one of five groups under
the ALPA Pilot Assistance
umbrella. The other groups include Aeromedical, Canadian
Pilot Assistance, the Critical
Incident Response Program,
and Human Intervention and
Motivation Study. l
LegislativeUpdate
n ALPA Applauds President
Obama’s Signing EU ETS Act
ALPA and other airline industry stakeholders commended
President Barack Obama’s
signing on Nov. 27, 2012, of
the EU Emissions Trading
Scheme Prohibition Act,
legislation that authorizes the
secretary of the Department
of Transportation to prohibit
U.S. airlines from participating
in the European Union’s emissions trading scheme (ETS).
“By signing this bill into
law, President Obama has
acted to protect our national
sovereignty, U.S. airlines, and
American jobs,” said ALPA’s
president, Capt. Lee Moak.
“We want to thank President
Obama and members of
Congress—particularly Sens.
Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and
John Thune (R-S.D.)—for
taking a stand against this
illegal tax, whose proceeds
were never even intended to
address aircraft greenhouse
gas emissions or further environmental protections.”
ALPA launched a full-scale
campaign including a Call
to Action, congressional
testimony, press releases,
and Capitol Hill visits by pilot
legislative affairs representatives. In November 2012, the
EU postponed the ETS to
allow for the triennial meeting of the International Civil
Aviation Organization (ICAO)
to continue its ongoing effort
to develop and vote on a global
sectorial approach to decrease
airline aircraft emissions.
“ICAO is the most appropriate venue to address
the issue of global aircraft
emissions standards,” said
Moak. “A single, international policy should be
determined to safeguard
against regional efforts to
generate new sources of
income.”
n Biofuels Legislation
Passes Senate
In early December 2012,
the U.S. Senate passed
S.3254, the National
Defense Authorization Act
(NDAA), by a vote of 98–0.
Earlier, before reaching the
Senate floor, the Senate
Armed Services Committee
voted to include two
amendments that would
have made it much more
difficult for the Department
of Defense (DOD) to
procure advanced biofuels
and build biofuel refineries
capable of safely powering aircraft and maritime
vessels.
ALPA joined with
aerospace manufacturers,
farmers, airlines, biofuel
producers, and nongovernmental national security
organizations to strip the
NDAA of this problematic
language. The coalition
was successful in garnering
wide bipartisan support for
an amendment offered by
Sen. Udall (D-Colo.) that
stripped language included
by Sen. Inhofe (R-Okla.). The
coalition was also success-
ful in pushing the Senate to
adopt an amendment offered
by Sen. Hagan (D-N.C.) that
stripped additional problematic language included by Sen.
McCain (R-Ariz.).
As with many other cuttingedge technologies, such as
jet engines, the purchasing
power of the U.S. military can
pave the way for civilian use of
these technologies. The push
by the DOD to procure advanced biofuels began under
former President George W.
Bush and continues today.
ALPA has supported the
military’s efforts in this area
because fuel is the number
one cost to the airline industry, and the development of
alternative fuels will be an
important key to the future
health of the U.S. airline
industry.
The Association applauds
the work of senators Udall
and Hagan in protecting the
DOD’s ability to purchase and
develop advanced biofuels.
ALPA has sent a letter to the
chairmen and ranking members of the Senate and House
Armed Services Committees
asking them to preserve
the biofuels language as
they reconcile differences
between the House- and
Senate-passed legislation.
The Association will continue
to lobby on Capitol Hill to
ensure the Senate’s biofuel
language is maintained and
signed into law. l
n ALPANegotiationsUpdate
The following is a summary
of the status of ALPA contract
negotiations by airline as of
Dec. 15, 2012:
Air Wisconsin—A Section
6 notice was filed on Oct. 1,
2010. Negotiations continue.
Atlantic Southeast—A
Section 6 notice was filed on
May 20, 2010. A joint Section
6 notice was filed on March
28, 2011. Atlantic Southeast/
ExpressJet joint negotiations
continue.
CanJet—A notice to bargain
was filed on Dec. 1, 2011.
Negotiations continue.
Continental—Voting on the
tentative agreement between
the pilots of Continental and
United and United Continental
Holdings, Inc., concluded on
Dec.15, 2012, and the pilots
ratified the new contract.
Evergreen—The pilots voted
down a tentative agreement in
late November 2012. Bargaining
between the parties remains
under the supervision of the
National Mediation Board.
ExpressJet—A Section 6 notice
was received on May 28, 2010.
A joint Section 6 notice was
filed on March 28, 2011. Atlantic
Southeast/ExpressJet joint
negotiations continue.
*First Air—A notice to bargain
was filed on Oct. 1, 2010.
Negotiations are under way.
Mesa—A Section 6 notice
was filed on Sept. 10, 2010.
Negotiations continue January
15–17, February 5–7, and
March 12–14.
Piedmont—A Section 6 notice
was sent on March 13, 2009. An
application for mediation was
filed with the NMB on April 21,
2010. Mediation is under way.
PSA—A Section 6 notice was
sent on Jan. 19, 2009. A joint application for mediation was filed
on July 12, 2011. Negotiations
continue.
Ryan—A Section 6 notice
was sent on Sept. 2, 2011.
Negotiations are under way.
Sun Country—A Section 6
notice was sent on Feb. 23, 2010.
Sun Country filed for mediation
on May 9, 2012.
United—Voting on the tentative
agreement between the pilots
of United and Continental and
United Continental Holdings,
Inc., concluded on Dec.15,
2012, and the pilots ratified
the new contract. l
*Editor’s note: ALPA negotiators
at this Canadian airline have
experienced many delays in
bargaining because of management shakeups and the loss of
Flight 6560. Since bargaining
opened in 2010, the pilot
group has had two CEOs, three
vice presidents of flight operations, and four company lead
negotiators. However, the team
members remain confident they
will make progress in the coming sessions.
n Engineering & Air Safety Update
n Aviation Security
Leaders Convene in
Herndon
Capt. Fred Eissler (FedEx
Express), ALPA’s Aviation
Security chairman, convened a meeting of the
Air Safety Organization’s
Aviation Security leaders
and subject-matter experts
on Nov. 15, 2012, in ALPA’s
Herndon, Va., offices. Capt.
Sean Cassidy, ALPA’s first
vice president and national
safety coordinator, participated along with a dozen
other pilots and staff from
the Engineering and Air
Safety Department.
The group recapped
events from 2012, conducted a strategic planning review that included priorities
set by ALPA’s 2012 Board of
Directors, and created plans
for security events in 2013,
among other activities.
The group also toured
the Transportation Security
Administra
tion’s (TSA)
Transporta
tion Security
Operations
Center, which
coordinates
and manages Capt. Eissler
numerous
aspects of aviation security
in North America, and the
National Targeting Center–
Cargo, which is focused on
ensuring the security of cargo
bound for the United States
from foreign destinations
and operated by the TSA
and Customs and Border
Protection.
n PCRO Convenes in Ottawa
Capt. Peter Black (First Air),
who chairs ALPA’s President’s
Committee for Remote
Operations (PCRO), and the
committee met in Ottawa in
mid-November 2012. Black,
PCRO members, and ALPA’s
Engineering and Air Safety
Department staff continued
their review of the far northern airfields in Canada and
the United States as part of
their mandate to develop
safety improvements in those
areas.
The committee is focusing
on ascertaining all of the
changes that are required to
support establishing precision approach capability to
all runway ends, which the
2012 Board of Directors
meeting established as
an ALPA priority. Airport
infrastructure, runway
marking and lighting, and
developing satellite-based
precision procedures must
all be considered in bringing
this capability to remote
airports.
Of particu
lar concern
is the availability of
Capt. Black
resources to
make these needed improvements. The committee
is investigating various ways
to educate local communities about the advantages,
both in safety and efficiency, of investing in these
improvements, and is also
investigating government
programs that might be
used to provide the needed
resources. In addition, the
committee continued its
work with NAV CANADA on
the approach-development
process in Canada.
During the meeting,
representatives from
NAV CANADA and the
Transportation Safety Board
of Canada gave presentations and talked with
committee members. The
committee will continue to
gather data on developing
safety improvements and
will include the FAA and
Transport Canada in future
discussions. l
ITNews
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ALPA held its 7th annual
IT Conference at the new
conference facilities in its
Herndon, Va., offices on
Nov. 26–27, 2012. The
two-day event focused on
master executive council
(MEC) collaboration and the
many communication tools
available to ALPA members.
More than 20 pilots
from 12 different MECs
participated, in addition to
staff from the Association’s
IT and Communications
Departments.
Presentations were
given on MEC tools, the new
SharePoint platform, and
e-mail management. Nine
individual work sessions
covered specific web, communications, and application
topics. In addition, a Microsoft
representative provided a
presentation on Windows 8
and Office 2013. l
recognizing that the north is of
growing interest to a broad range
of industry stakeholders.
“ALPA has been in the vanguard of aviation safety for many
years, and we are convinced that
the current, thorough certification processes of NAV CANADA,
joined with those of Transport
Canada, need to continue to
safely develop critical air navigation, communication, and airport
infrastructure now and in the
future to safely serve the communities above the 60th parallel and
other remote regions,” Adamus
commented.
Adamus and Black stressed the
benefits of the latest generation
of GPS-based procedures, which
provide flight crews with information that allows them to conduct
a constant, stabilized descent to
the runway. They emphasized that
for this technology to be really
effective in improving services to a
community, airport infrastructures
need to be upgraded concurrently, which requires considerable
funding.
They urged increased financial support from the federal
government through such programs as the Airports Capital
Assistance Program (ACAP).
ALPA believes that the eligibility
criteria for the program should
be expanded to include airport
surveys needed to support
better instrument approach
capabilities, and the amount
of available funding should be
increased significantly in view
of the extra costs associated
with construction and survey
work in the north.
The testimony before the
Standing Senate Committee
continues ALPA’s dialogue
with the Canadian legislature
on operations in the north.
ALPA members have had
detailed discussions on the
subject with Olivia Chow,
the New Democratic Party
transport critic and vice chair
of the House of Commons
Standing Committee on
Transport, Infrastructure, and
Communities. l
Canada
n ALPA Reps Give Senate
issues related to the Canadian
Insights into Remote Ops
airline industry. ALPA was invited
Capt. Dan Adamus (Jazz),
to share the Association’s insights
ALPA’s Canada Board president,
and provide technical expertise
and Capt. Peter Black (First Air),
on these issues.
chairman of ALPA’s President’s
“As air traffic in this region is
Committee for Remote
bound to see a steady increase, it
Operations (PCRO), on Dec. 4,
becomes ever more challenging
2012, appeared before Canada’s
to ensure the same high level
Standing Senate Committee on
of safety that airline operations
Transport and Communications
must have,” Adamus said, in
to brief the committee
on the challenges
airline pilots face
when flying into and
out of remote areas
and how to enhance
the safety of these
types of operations
and improve service
to these remote
communities.
The Senate committee has recently
From left, Capt. Peter Black (First Air),
focused on issues
chairman, ALPA President’s Committee for
concerning operaRemote Operations; Sen. Dennis Dawson,
tions in northern and chairman, Parliament of Canada Standing
similarly remote areas Senate Committee on Transport and
as part of its ongoing
Communications; and Capt. Dan Adamus
study of emerging
(Jazz), president, ALPA Canada Board.
To read the latest On Investing
magazine from Charles Schwab, go
to www.schwab.com/oninvesting.
It’s an added benefit for members through ALPA’s partnership
with Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.,
as the Association’s preferred
financial services provider. l
n Airlines Adjust Capacity in 2013
Source: OAG—Data not available for cargo airlines and some charter airlines.
share on new or expanding routes. Airlines looking to add
capacity include Alaska, Hawaiian, Spirit, and Sun Country.
Delta and United-Continental have cut their system capacity. The graph to the left shows each individual airline’s
recent change in capacity. Canadian airlines are cutting
back as well. Except for a slight increase at Jazz, other
Canadian airlines such as Bearskin, Calm Air, CanJet, and
First Air are all showing reduced capacity for 1Q 2013
compared to 1Q 2012.
Type of aircraft is playing significantly into how airlines
distribute their capacity. All aircraft types except narrowbody
will have less capacity in 1Q 2013 compared to 1Q 2012.
Turboprop airplanes are showing the biggest decline, despite
the increased use of Dash 8-Q400s.
Capacity changes by geographic region are also showing
significant erosion, especially in transatlantic flying. As the
European debt crisis continues to stifle confidence, many
airlines are pulling back flying to that region. Delta, UnitedContinental, and US Airways show declines of nearly 10
percent in capacity to that region in 1Q 2013 compared to 1Q
2012. The Latin American region shows the greatest strength
in 2013, with Spirit and JetBlue adding significant capacity in
2013. The Pacific region is flat in 2013, after huge gains from
new service by Hawaiian last year. l
Change in Capacity by Equipment Type
Change in Capacity by Region
The recent uncertainty of the economic environment
has led many airlines to practice capacity discipline once
again. After reviewing the schedules, however, some niche
airlines will be adding capacity to attempt to gain market
1Q 2013 vs. 1Q 2012 Change in Capacity
Note: Island Air not shown but had
an 86% increase in capacity in 1Q 2013 vs. 1Q 2012
Source: OAG for U.S. major airlines
and their regional partners
Source: OAG for U.S. major airlines and their regional partners
n In Memoriam
“To fly west, my friend, is a flight we all must take for a final check.”—Author unknown
2003
Capt. Robert W. Burdick
United
September
2011
Capt. Harvey W. LaFollette
Eastern
December
2012
Capt. Anthony D. Benvenuto
Capt. W.A. Berger
Capt. Frank L. Swaim
Capt. H.T. “Hugh” Smith
Capt. Kim M. Loveless
Capt. G.C. Douglass
Capt. Richard K. Wagner
Capt. V.J. Wormser
Capt. Louis H. Baumgartner
S/O Anatole J. Chauvin
FE Lloyd F. Scidmore
Capt. T.W. Tinkler
Capt. W.H. “Bill” Becker
Continental
United
United
United
TWA
United
United
United
Sun Country
Flying Tigers
ATA
United
Delta
February
March
June
July
August
September
September
September
October
October
October
October
November
Have You Read?
Sixty Years of the 20th Century:
A Pilot’s Memoir
By Capt. D. Allen Butcher (Delta, Ret.)
Capt. Butcher has penned an autobiography,
Sixty Years in the 20th Century: A Pilot’s Memoir
(403 pages, CreateSpace, North Charleston,
S.C.). Growing up poor in rural Tennessee,
Butcher, a standout ROTC cadet, graduated
from the University of Tennessee and
became a U.S. Air Force multiengine pilot.
After a tour in Vietnam, he joined Delta as a DC-8 flight
engineer in 1969 and retired in 1998 as a B-757/67
captain, never scratching an airplane along the way.
—By Jan W. Steenblik, Technical Editor
Air Line Pilot
Wants Your Photos
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encourages you
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or high-resolution
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issue!
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[email protected].
Capt. Robert E. Bittner
Capt. Gregory A. Bludorn
Capt. Devere G. Bunnell
Capt. David C. Craig
Capt. Duane T. Daily
Capt. Lewis M. Gruber
Capt. Donald L. Hamilton
F/O John F. “H” Hirsch, Jr.
Capt. James R. Hubbard
Capt. Robert H. Kohler
Capt. Samuel R. MacGregor, Jr.
Capt. B.L. Martin
S/O Arthur D. Mobley
F/O Thomas G. Odam
Capt. Henry J. Serwat
Capt. Richard H. Schlader
Capt. Donald J. Worley
United
Delta
Eastern
Delta
America West
Northwest
TWA
United
Delta
United
Eastern
US Airways
Flying Tigers
TWA
Northwest
Northwest
Northwest
November
November
November
November
November
November
November
November
November
November
November
November
November
November
November
November
November
n Compiled from information provided by ALPA’s Membership
and Council Services Department
Mailbag
Turbulence
November’s “Preflight” had a
small piece about turbulence
detection and avoidance.
Northwest Airlines had a very
effective turbulence avoidance program in effect from
the early 1970s, including
turbulence bypass routes in
the Rockies. I remember well
hearing flights along our routes
calling ATC, “We’ll follow the
Red Tail.”
Capt. Clint Viebrock
(Northwest, Ret.)
November’s
“The Landing”
The National Football
League’s conduct during the
labor dispute between the
league and the NFL Referees
Association is not unlike what
some airlines have done to our
pilots and what the FAA did
the PATCO
controllers
in 1981.
Losing a job
or a career is
more painful
than you can
imagine. The
scabs who
officiated the
NFL games
during the
dispute should be ashamed
of themselves, and we, as a
union, should not refer to
them as “the replacement
referees.” Scab is easier to
say, easier to spell, and more
accurately describes a scab!
Capt. Martin Coddington
(Pinnacle, Ret.)
“The Landing” in November’s
issue refers to “replacement
referees.” Did you mean to say
“scab referees,” or is this the
kinder, gentler ALPA?
Capt. Ed Chapman (Braniff 1,
Braniff 2, Midway, United, Ret.)
 Letters to the editor may
be submitted via regular mail
to Air Line Pilot, Letters to the
Editor, 535 Herndon Parkway,
P.O. Box 1169, Herndon, VA
20172-1169, or by e-mail to
[email protected].
When the Key Men met in secret in 1931 to create ALPA, the
United States was in the throes of the Great Depression. The nation and
the world were in turmoil. Yet the Key Men knew that much more united
than divided them and that their best hopes for the future depended
on banding together to present a coherent, cohesive voice—at the
negotiating table, on the picket line, in the corridors of political power in
Washington, D.C., and on Wall Street. Today, when single- and twinengine turboprops connect Americans and Canadians with hubs that
launch turbofan-powered widebodied jets to five other continents,
that fundamental truth remains as valid today as it was in 1931.
Turn the page to learn more about your ALPA brothers and
sisters. Some of the perennial themes and common
denominators of their stories and struggles are older than
this, the largest union of airline pilots in the world.
The
Pilots
ALPA
2013
PHOTO BY capt. Brent Skillings (Pinnacle)
of
The
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
Setting a
New Course
By Toni C. Vacinek
Senior Communications
Specialist
O
n March 1, 2012, the
FAA approved Southwest Airlines’ application for a single operating
certificate (SOC) with wholly
owned AirTran Airways. With
the SOC in hand, Southwest
moved forward and began
transitioning AirTran’s operations, including moving some
AirTran pilots “across the
partition,” the invisible wall
that now separates the two
companies and pilot groups.
The inaugural conversion
class of pilots took place on
March 28, 2012, and just
fewer than 200 of the 1,750
While setting a new
course and settling into their
new roles, the MEC was
confronted with Southwest’s
announcement on May 22,
2012, that it had reached a
tentative agreement with
Delta to sublease AirTran’s
B-717s—an agreement
that changed the tone and
tenor of the transition among
AirTran pilots, Southwest
management, and the
Southwest Airlines Pilots’
Association. The MEC leaders
are currently working with
ALPA staff and pilot leaders to
sort through the ramifications
AirTran
Retired B-717
F/O Jo Beth
Lynch after
landing her
retirement
flight in Atlanta,
Ga., on Oct. 28,
2012. Lynch is
the first pilot
in five years
to retire at AirTran and the first ALPA-represented AirTran
pilot to retire. Lynch, an ALPA member for 28 years, is also a
retired captain on the B-757 and B-767 for United Airlines. She
made significant contributions to her fellow pilots, ALPA, and
the airline industry with her dedication to safety in leadership
roles at Air Virginia and United.
pilots on the former AirTran
seniority list are now flying
under the Southwest livery.
Facing transition within
its own group, and as part of
the Master Executive Council
(MEC) officer term of office
cycle, which ended in April,
the MEC elected new officers
to continue the work of
representing the best interests
of the AirTran pilot group.
Whereas the former leaders
were focused on seniority
list integration and contract
negotiations, the task of
moving through the merger
with Southwest belongs to the
current slate of officers and
representatives. Developing
the goals and the strategy for
maintaining a transition that
is smooth and transparent was
the first order of business.
for their members.
As one group of AirTran
pilots was getting ready to
begin conversion training at
Southwest, another group of
pilots filed a dispute resolution claim with the Dispute
Resolution Committee,
consisting of two premerger
AirTran pilots and two premerger Southwest pilots,
regarding the effect on the
seniority integration agreement due to the sublease of
B-717s to Delta. Meanwhile,
AirTran’s Negotiating
Committee, at the direction
of the MEC, engaged the
company in discussions to
obtain improvements to
maintain the quality of life for
the pilots who would remain
on the AirTran side of the
partition as the transition to
Southwest slowly spooled up.
Autumn brought additional change to the airline.
Southwest announced that
the Milwaukee, Wisc., base,
which was expected to stay
open into 2013, would draw
down and eventually close.
In preparation for the
transition of the majority of
Milwaukee-based pilots and
at the request of the MEC,
ALPA’s Executive Council
reviewed and approved the
dissolution of the Milwaukee
local council, with the remaining members joining the
local council in Orlando, Fla.,
the previous headquarters
of AirTran Airways and the
original base for its pilots.
However, Orlando will also
soon be shrinking as pilot
transitioning across the partition increases and the number of routes flown by AirTran
pilots decreases. The dissolution of the Orlando local
council is on the horizon, and
the remaining pilots will again
reunite as one council—until
that, too, is gone.
“The majority of our pilots
are still waiting to cross the
partition to Southwest,” says
Capt. Jim Morris, the pilots’
MEC chairman. “For most
of those who remain, the
sublease of the B-717 fleet to
Delta changes the landscape.
We at the MEC are doing everything possible to make this
work for our members, who
expected this transition to
look vastly different than it
does today.”
AtaGlance
n Pilots joined ALPA: 2009
n Number of pilots: 1,500+
n Pilot domiciles: Atlanta, Ga.;
Milwaukee, Wisc.; and Orlando, Fla.
n Headquarters: Dallas, Tex.
n Operations/services: AirTran
Airways, a wholly owned subsidiary
of Southwest Airlines Co., offers
coast-to-coast and near-international
service with close to 600 flights a day
to 54 destinations
n Fleet: 88 B-717s and 41 B-737s
The
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
Pilots
Combat Job
Outsourcing
By John Perkinson
Staff Writer
T
he Air Transat pilots
have seen the effect
that government policy
can have on airline operations. The pilots have had to
endure the detrimental effects of Canada’s Temporary
Foreign Worker Program and
the use of wet-leasing by
competing airlines for the last
few years. Sizeable losses and
concerns about diluted demand pushed the airline into
downsizing and restructuring
in 2012.
ALPA and Air Transat’s
parent company, Transat A.T.,
Inc., banded together with Air
Canada and WestJet to publicly denounce the Canadian
Transportation Agency’s
November 2012 decision to
uphold these practices. The
group condemned agency
airline some relief, the pilots
agreed to extend the life of
their contract by a year, to
May 2015. They also agreed
to a cost-of-living freeze,
approving a bonus program to
recoup lost wages if company
performance improves.
“We understand that our
airline is concerned about
overextending itself,” says
Lavoie. “The airplanes that we
parked were eventually going
to be replaced, but now, with
this fight, we’re waiting to see
what happens.”
The Temporary Foreign
Worker Program allows airlines to forgo hiring Canadian
pilots and instead employ
overseas pilots and save on
initial training costs. However,
several Canadian airlines
have sidestepped the clause
COURTESY AIR TRANSAT
Air Transat
An Air Transat A330 at
Montréal-Trudeau Airport.
approval of Canadian airline
Sunwing’s seasonal use of
four Czech airplanes and
overseas flight crews as part
of its winter operation.
ALPA and the other aviation stakeholders pointed out
that half of Sunwing’s pilots
and two-thirds of its airplanes
in use this winter are from
other countries, giving the
airline an unfair operating
advantage and neglecting
unemployed Canadian pilots.
Sunwing and similar carriers
use these tactics to take advantage of Canadians’ travel
to the Caribbean and Central
and South America during
the winter, when demand is at
a premium.
“We laid off 56 pilots this
fall and had to park two of
our A310s,” says Capt. Carol
Lavoie, the pilots’ Master
Executive Council (MEC)
chairman. To provide the
that delineates that foreign
workers can be employed
only if the company can
demonstrate that no suitable
Canadian residents can fill
the available jobs. Lavoie
points out, “It appears that
some airlines will overlook a
Canadian applicant if he or
she doesn’t have the specific
type rating for the airplanes
that airline uses.”
In addition, the program
calls for reciprocity—i.e., use
of available Canadian pilots
in the program’s participating
countries during Canada’s
summer season—but this
policy is not being properly
honoured.
Lavoie notes that ALPA’s
Canada Board has been a
strong ally, testifying before
Parliament to mitigate the
effects of job outsourcing
on the Air Transat pilots and
other Canadian pilot groups.
During testimony, Capt. Dan
Adamus (Jazz), ALPA’s Canada
Board president, said: “The
issue of hiring foreign pilots
and its impacts on the labour
force are subjects that need
to be taken seriously by the
federal government. Some
airline managements have
been abusing the Temporary
Foreign Worker Program
by using it for competitive
advantages instead of filling a
labour shortage as originally
envisioned by the legislation.”
Despite these challenges,
Lavoie describes his pilot
group’s relationship with
management as positive. “We
have problems here and there,
but we have a good channel of
communications with senior
management, and we’re
working together to help our
airline succeed. However, we
also understand that we’re a
publicly traded company and
that we need to make money
to stay in business.”
Lavoie remains hopeful
that the airline industry can
convince the Canadian government to see the shortcomings of this destructive policy
and act in the best interest of
its citizens.
Air Transat offers both
scheduled and charter
flights using a fleet of Airbus
A310s and A330s. The airline balances its southbound
operations in the winter
with trips to Europe in the
summer and carries nearly
2 million passengers per
year to 60 destinations in 25
countries. On Nov. 14, 2012,
Air Transat celebrated its
25th anniversary.
AtaGlance
n Number of pilots: 436 (including
furloughees)
n Headquarters: Pierre E. Trudeau
International Airport, Montreal, P.Q.
n Pilot bases: Montreal, P.Q.;
Toronto, Ont.; and Vancouver, B.C.
n Fleet: 11 A310s and 12 A330s
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
The Difference
A Year Can
Make
Air Transport
International
By Tawnya Burket
Communications
Specialist
B
y the time the newly
elected Master Executive Council (MEC)
leaders officially took office
in March 2012, they were
already fully immersed in
important discussions regarding the future of their flightcrew members. Meetings with
management, the previous
MEC, and the Capital Cargo
MEC officers were already
under way in evaluating
scenarios for combining Air
Transport International (ATI)
and Capital Cargo International Airlines (CCIA), as the
two airlines are owned by Air
Transport Services Group, Inc.
Using ALPA merger policy
as guidance, the two MECs
worked closely with ALPA
Representation Department
staff in developing a transition
and process agreement (TPA)
that became the merger’s
blueprint—outlining the
negotiating process to attain
a joint collective bargaining agreement (JCBA) and
integrated seniority list, and
ultimately creating one airline.
The arduous task of expeditiously negotiating a JCBA
began after the crewmembers ratified the TPA. The
joint negotiating committee
(JNC) consisting of three
members from each MEC
and ALPA’s Representation
Department labor relations
counsel bargained with management over the summer.
On August 6, the MEC held
a special meeting in Boston,
Mass., where it appointed
the Integration Seniority
List Committee. Three days
later, the JNC reached an
agreement-in-principle on
the JCBA. During the next
weeks, the MEC reviewed the
tentative agreement (TA) and
authorized a crewmember
ratification vote.
The MEC, along with the
CCI MEC and Representation
Department and Communications Department staff, met
during the week of August 20
seniority list, the committees
in Arlington, Tex., to create
submitted their final written
a strategy for educating the
arguments and supporting
two groups on the JCBA. The
documentation to Bloch,
meeting’s outcome consisted
who is expected to issue a
of an educational packet
final integrated seniority list
that included the JCBA and
award shortly. The completed
a road show schedule to
list will then be presented
reach all the crewmembers.
to management, which will
The JCBA ratification vote
conclude the ALPA portion of
closed on September 24 with
the operational merger.
63 percent of the combined
In an unfortunate turn
crewmembers voting in favor
of events, management
of the joint agreement.
announced in December a
After the JCBA’s ratificareduction in the fleet and
tion, Capt. Brendan Twomey,
crew force. The announceATI’s MEC chairman, comment indicated that almost
mented on the work that had
half of the airline’s crewmembeen done and the MEC’s
expectations
for the future.
“The work of the
crewmembers
in reaching and
ratifying this
JCBA should
signal to management that we
share the goal of
seeing ATI prosper. This merger Capt. Dan Kuhn and F/O Brad Rath with
was manageKorean ground coordinators before
ment’s idea, and departing in their DC-8 from Incheon, Korea.
once the merger
is complete, we expect to
bers would receive furlough
take part in that prosperity,”
notices before year’s end.
said Twomey. “Our focus now
“The announcement of
will be implementing and
a reduction in aircraft from
enforcing our contract while
management was disheartenwelcoming our brothers and
ing news to our crewmemsisters from Capital Cargo into bers,” says Twomey. “We can
the ATI family.”
only hope that the cargo
Upon JCBA ratification,
industry turns around, allowthe TPA then required the
ing our fellow crewmembers
ATI Integrated Seniority List
to return to the airline and
Committee members to bethe synergies of the merger
gin seniority integration talks
come to fruition.”
with their CCI counterparts.
According to their agreement,
the two committees met multiple times within the allotted
n Pilots joined ALPA: November
2009
30 days of direct negotiations
n Number of pilots: 240, with 150
in August and September
on furlough
but were unable to reach
n Operations: Combi passenger,
an agreement. During the
military, and cargo operations around
first two weeks in October,
the world
n Base: Home-based
the committees then met
n Corporate headquarters: Little
in mediation with Arbitrator
Rock, Ark.
Richard Bloch. On October
n Fleet: Currently operates three
15, after mediation failed
DC-8 combis and three B-767s
to produce an integrated
AtaGlance
F/E Scott Olson (Air Transport International)
The
The
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
Endgame
Negotiations
Within Sight
Air Wisconsin
By Lydia Jakub
Specialist
A
ir Wisconsin pilots
have been working to
build the structure for
a competitive contract over
the past two years and are
focusing their efforts on completing the process in 2013.
The pilots, who are currently
in their ninth year of a concessionary agreement, have
clearly and consistently stated
their justifiable expectations
for this contract to management: improved pay, benefits,
and work rules.
“We’re at the 30-yard line,
working to drive the ball
forward,” says Capt. Richard
Swindell, chairman of the
pilots’ Master Executive
Council (MEC). “Air Wisconsin
is a successful, financially
viable company due, in large
part, to the sacrifices made
by our pilot group. It’s time
for those contributions to be
recognized at the bargaining
table through increased pilot
pay, better benefits, and
quality-of-life enhancements.”
Since beginning negotiations in October 2010, the
pilots have reached 16
tentative agreements with
management. They have
also narrowed down the
list of items in many of the
remaining 14 sections using
a unique combination of
traditional and interest-based
bargaining methods.
With the Scheduling and
Hours of Service sections, for
example, the pilots met with
management negotiators to
identify the interests of each
party and work toward agreements that addressed those
interests to their mutual
satisfaction. They have since
passed proposals on these
sections that included the
FAA’s new flight-time/dutytime regulations (FAR Part
117) to define utilization of
flight crews, building schedules, and other work rules to
enhance pilots’ overall quality
of life. Senior management
representatives have indicat-
ed that they will start abiding
by the new rules before the
implementation deadline to
enable both the pilot group
and the company to become
accustomed to them before
they become regulatory.
In recent months, negotiations have focused on
additional economic areas
of the contract. Although the
progress of negotiations has
slowed, both parties remain
committed to and engaged in
the process.
“It’s critical, given the
turbulent state of the airline
industry and rampant speculation about a looming pilot
shortage, that we secure a
ratifiable agreement in the
near term,” says Swindell.
“Doing so will benefit the
Capt. Dave Beyer and F/O
Brian Beyer, who are father
and son.
pilot group and company by
positioning Air Wisconsin for
continued labor stability and
future growth.”
One challenge will be
maintaining adequate pilot
staffing. In 2012, Air Wisconsin
hired approximately 100
new pilots and expects to do
the same this year. The MEC
secured preferential interviews
for furloughed ALPA members
last year, and the company has
already hired many furloughed
ALPA pilots from Comair,
Pinnacle, and Trans States.
With nearly all airlines planning to hire this year, however,
the competition for qualified
pilots will be fierce.
It’s up to Air Wisconsin
management to evaluate
and seize opportunities as
they become available in the
industry. Meanwhile, pilot
leaders are monitoring the
company’s business plan,
preparing for what they hope
will be a profitable future,
and developing contingency
plans. They are also working
to strengthen relationships
with other pilot group leaders
through their active participation in ALPA’s US Airways
Express Pilots Alliance.
Furthermore, they are bridging the gap with their fellow
Air Wisconsin employees by
hosting events at headquarters to demonstrate that they,
too, are committed to the
success of the airline.
To keep the pilot group
informed, the MEC reinvigorated its communications
program. They maintain
a presence on the line
and in the crew rooms to
answer questions and solicit
feedback. A constant flow of
information is also available
via e-news updates, social media, and other MEC resources
to ensure that pilots get the
information they need in the
format they want.
These and other strategies
are being used to advance the
pilots’ agenda for a fair contract. The endgame is within
sight, and a multifaceted plan
is in place to ensure that the
pilot group will be ready to
act when called upon.
AtaGlance
n Pilots joined ALPA: 1982 as a
result of the Union of Professional
Airmen merger with ALPA
n Number of pilots: 665
n Operations: Nearly 500 departures
per day to 26 states and 3 Canadian
provinces; with service to 70 cities
throughout North America, the airline
carries nearly 6 million passengers
per year
n Headquarters: Appleton, Wisc.
n Domiciles: New York, N.Y. (LGA);
Norfolk, Va. (ORF); Philadelphia, Pa.
(PHL); and Washington, D.C. (DCA)
n Fleet: 71 Canadair 50-seat regional
jets (CRJ200s)
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
Pilots
Working
Toward a
New
Contract
Alaska
By Jenn Sutton
Specialist
T
he Alaska Airlines
pilots are just months
away from the April
1, 2013, amendable date of
their collective bargaining
agreement. The pilots’ Master Executive Council (MEC)
remains hopeful that when
that date arrives, rather than
enter into the status quo
period—during which time
there are no improvements
to the collective bargaining
agreement—the pilots will be
working under a new, negotiated contract that reflects
the role that they play in the
airline’s success.
A year and a half ago,
when they approved their
strategic plan, the Alaska
MEC members drew up seven
goals for the future. One of
their most important goals is
to find opportunities to improve the contractual cornerstones of the pilots’ collective
bargaining agreement—pay,
work rules, job security, and
benefits—on an ongoing
basis. Within this goal, the
MEC included a desire to
work to reach a new collective
bargaining agreement by the
amendable date, noting that
doing so would provide benefits to both the pilot group
and the company.
Since ratification of
Contract ’09, the pilot group’s
Negotiating Committee, at
the MEC’s direction, has been
working with management to
address issues as they arise,
including about three dozen
memorandums of understanding (MOU) and letters
of agreement (LOA), such as
an MOU that allowed pilots
more flexibility in how they
bid for vacation and an LOA
that allowed furloughed pilots
an option to temporarily
bypass recall if they desired to
do so. Additionally, the pilots’
Grievance Committee meets
monthly with management to
review grievance submissions
in an effort to resolve issues
on a more timely basis, and
negotiate beyond April 1
the Scheduling Management
and for as long as it takes to
Group—a joint ALPA-Alaska
achieve a quality agreement.
working group created with
The MEC’s Strategic Planning
the ratification of Contract
Committee is now in the MEC
‘09—has been meeting
office full-time to focus on neperiodically to tackle and find
gotiations. Throughout 2012,
solutions to problems with
the MEC grew and developed
the application of scheduling
its Pilot-to-Pilot and Family
language.
Awareness Committees, trainLast July, the Negotiating
ing volunteers in all four of
Committee began meeting
with management’s full nego- Alaska’s bases who will help
share information between
tiating team. The parties are
the MEC and pilot group, with
now talking about language
the goal of ensuring that the
related to job security, one
pilot group and their families
of the four cornerstones of
are informed and engaged.
the contract. Most recently,
“Our goal remains a
discussions at the negotiating
contract by April 1, but we
table have included scope,
must and will be prepared to
merger, and acquisition lannegotiate as long as it takes
guage. While plenty of work
still remains to
be done, the MEC
continues to stay
fully engaged
in the effort to
reach a new collective bargaining
agreement in a
timely manner.
“Reaching an
agreement by the
amendable date
would benefit
both our pilots
Capt. Tim Hope at Seattle-Tacoma Airport.
and our company by avoiding
protracted, contentious
to achieve an agreement
negotiations and a status quo that reflects this pilot group’s
period during which there
needs and requirements,”
would be no improvements
Notaro says.
to our contract,” says Capt.
Chris Notaro, the pilots’ MEC
chairman. “We remain hopeful we will reach that goal. But
n Number of pilots: 1,472
we still have a long way to go
n Operations: 95 destinations with
in key areas, and we will not
436 daily departures in the United
sacrifice a quality agreement
States, Mexico, and Canada. This
for the sake of expediency.”
includes 40 markets flown by Horizon
Air, which provides traffic feed to
The MEC has been polling
Alaska Airlines under a capacitythe pilots periodically, via
purchase agreement. During recent
both telephone polls and
years, Alaska has added new destinamore recently through ALPA’s
tions to expand its network from its
new online polling system, to
main hub in Seattle, Wash., as well as
from its hubs in Anchorage, Alaska;
ensure they understand what
Los Angeles, Calif.; and Portland, Ore.
their priorities are.
n Fleet: An all-Boeing fleet of 24
While the MEC members
737-400s, 17 -700s, 58 -800s, 12
believe they’re on a path
-900s, 2 -900ERs, 5 -400Cs, and 1
toward achieving their goal,
-400 freighter
they also are prepared to
AtaGlance
Jenn Sutton
The
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
Pilots Surpass
Expectations
During
Bankruptcy
Negotiations
American
Eagle
By Kimberly Seitz
Specialist
I
t was a challenging year for
American Eagle pilots as
they negotiated their way
through bankruptcy. However, they emerged from the
process with an eight-year
agreement that maintains
key contract provisions and
ensures that the pilots have
job security and opportunity
for career advancement, as
well as scoring a contract that
includes landmark furlough
protection language.
“Emerging from bankruptcy
with the majority of our hardwon contract in place is a
major achievement in helping
to ensure that Eagle remains
a viable career choice for both
existing and future pilots,” says
Capt. Tony Gutierrez, the pilots’
Master Executive Council
(MEC) chairman. “The hard
work is not yet over. Contract
implementation will be
tedious, but a massive piece of
this process is now complete.
And we look forward to
expeditious approval from the
bankruptcy court.”
As a wholly owned subsidiary of AMR (the parent company of American Airlines,
which filed for Chapter 11
bankruptcy in November
2011), American Eagle agreed
to provide furlough protection
equal to the number of active
pilots required to staff between 205 and 216 airplanes
or 60 percent of American
Airlines’ total regional fleet,
whichever is less. This also
includes guaranteeing that
50 percent of the active pilots
retain captain pay. If Eagle is
divested or American merges
with another airline, Eagle
will “furlough protect” 95
percent of Eagle’s pilots on
the seniority list at the date of
signing. Additionally, if Eagle
is in furlough-protect mode,
American may be required
to increase the percentage
of Eagle pilots in American’s
new-hire classes.
“Historically, pilot groups
lose furlough-protection
language in bankruptcy,”
Gutierrez explains. “We are
not aware of any other regional airline pilot group that
has ever achieved furlough
protection of this magnitude
in a bankruptcy negotiation.”
The MEC also felt that
pay banding—a system
that pays captains based on
their seniority instead of the
actual equipment they are flying—could save a significant
amount of money on costly
training. The theory is that
if a senior captain can hold
the CRJ (the highest-paying
equipment type) but is flying
the EMB, that pilot will likely
stay on the EMB if he or she
is receiving CRJ pay. The pay
banding system encourages
pilots not to chase money
by bidding on higher-paying
equipment since there is no
change in pay when changing
equipment. Instead, a pilot’s
seniority determines which
airplane rate a pilot receives.
The agreement also includes
language protecting junior
captains who might immediately incur a reduction in pay
because they no longer can
hold the pay band associated
with the equipment they are
actually flying.
Another creative cost-saving solution is the personal
time off (PTO) bank, which
combines regular sick and
vacation leave into one bank.
Monthly sick leave credit
accruals and annual vacation
credit hours are deposited
into each pilot’s PTO bank.
Pilots may then use that PTO
credit for sick calls, vacation
time, personal vacation days,
and approved commuter and
fatigue calls (at the pilot’s
option).
And the final big piece of
the puzzle was the implementation of a preferential
bidding system (PBS). The
new agreement provides a
PBS that is built jointly by the
company and ALPA. After the
system is in place, the Eagle
pilots will still have the opportunity to decline PBS and
provide equivalent savings in
an alternative manner. ALPA
also obtained limited control
over the pairing generation
and bid run processes.
“Although none of us
wanted to navigate the bankruptcy process during our
F/O ANDI LUSHA (AMERICAN EAGLE)
The
American Eagle terminal at
Chicago O’Hare International
Airport during a winter afternoon.
career,” says Gutierrez, “we
are pleased that this difficult
chapter is now behind us and
that we can focus on moving
forward, exiting bankruptcy,
refleeting, and pursuing paths
to grow our company and
ensure that we maintain solid
piloting jobs well into the
future.”
AtaGlance
n Pilots joined ALPA: 1995 (although
Simmons had been an ALPA member
since 1986, after the National
Mediation Board’s 1995 ruling that the
four airlines serving American Airlines
—Executive, Flagship, Simmons, and
Wings West—constituted a single
airline, the Eagle pilots established a
single MEC)
n Pilot domiciles: Chicago, Ill.;
Dallas/Ft. Worth, Tex.; Miami, Fla.; JFK
and LGA, N.Y.; and San Juan, P.R.
n Operations: More than 1,700
daily flights to more than 150 cities
throughout the United States, Canada,
the Bahamas, the Caribbean, and
Mexico
n Headquarters: Ft. Worth, Tex.
n Fleet: CRJ700s, EMB-135s, EMB140s, EMB-145s, and ATR 72s
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
Working
Hard Toward
A Combined
Future
Atlantic
Southeast
By Jen Lofquist
Specialist
I
n August 2010, parent
company SkyWest, Inc.,
announced that Atlantic
Southeast (ASA) would purchase ExpressJet and merge
them. By December 2011, the
carrier had one certificate—
effectively making it one airline. A few months later, after
an aborted attempt to name
the airline SureJet, it got one
name—ExpressJet.
Despite having one certifi
cate and one name, the pilot
groups remain separate—
each having its own contract
while they both negotiate
with the goal of a single
contract. Until that time, the
ASA pilots continue to function as an independent pilot
group and operate under their
premerger contract.
Negotiations on a joint
collective bargaining agreement (JCBA) began almost
as soon as the merger was
announced. Communications
went out jointly from ASA and
ExpressJet, and the groups
hold joint Master Executive
Council (MEC) meetings and
continue to communicate
with each other on almost a
daily basis. With preferential
bidding system issues still
dividing the two groups and
the economic sections of
the contract still open, the
pilot groups have more work
ahead. After that, seniority list
integration will begin.
“Bringing together two
groups under one contract
is never a simple task,”
comments Capt. David
Nieuwenhuis, the ASA pilots’
MEC chairman. “Even under
the best of circumstances,
gaining consensus between
management and one pilot
group is a lengthy process.
We’ve got two groups with
different systems in place and
different histories—not to
mention different contracts.
We’ve made tremendous
progress, but we want to be
sure that we come away with
a contract that satisfies our
joint pilot group and all of the a new domicile and maintenance base will be located
future pilots who will serve
in Dallas. Already, more than
under this contract.”
The discussions about their 100 pilots have bid into the
new DFW domicile.
collective professional futures
“As much as we are pleased
have included not just the
ASA and ExpressJet pilots, but with the additional flying, we
are aware that this comes
also the third pilot group in
at the expense of our fellow
the SkyWest family, SkyWest
ALPA pilots at American
Airlines. In August 2012, the
Eagle,” Nieuwenhuis says.
two ALPA groups met face“Although there has been no
to-face with the leaders of
reduction in pilot positions
the SkyWest Airlines Pilots
at American Eagle, as airline
Association to talk about
pilots we need to encourage
SkyWest, Inc.’s financial situstability within the industry,
ation and to compare notes
rather than simply shuffling
and strategies. The three
groups also met with SkyWest the same flying from company
to company and being played
management to emphasize
against each other. We know
their goals and to review
that the most secure future
the current state of the U.S.
for our careers is a vibrant and
airline industry.
“By forging a close relation- flourishing industry. We are
colleagues—not combatants.”
ship with the SkyWest pilots,
we are able
to better
ensure that
no one
pilot group is
being ratcheted against
another
and that we F/O Nathan Somers completes a preflight check
have access at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
to as much
The pilots have put these
information as possible,” says
words into action by actively
Nieuwenhuis. “We all need to
participating in ALPA’s Delta
work together to move this
Connection Pilots Alliance.
entire corporation forward
They have worked closely with
and make SkyWest, Inc., and
all of its pilot groups a leading other regional airline pilot
groups, sharing information
force in this industry and to
and ideas. When Pinnacle
raise the bar for all pilots, no
Airlines announced it had filed
matter what name is on their
for bankruptcy, ASA pilots lent
badges.”
their support and recently
Since last year, ASA has
attended bankruptcy court
hired more than 75 pilots. In
hearings in New York along
September, the company anwith Pinnacle pilots.
nounced that it had entered
into a four-year capacitypurchase agreement with
American Airlines.
Beginning in early 2013,
the airline will be flying 11
n First ALPA contract: 1989
CRJ200s for American. These
n Headquarters: Atlanta, Ga.
airplanes will be acquired
n Pilot bases: Dulles, Va.; Atlanta,
from the current Delta
Ga.; and Detroit, Mich.
system. The majority of the
n Fleet: 112 CRJ200s, 46 CRJ700s,
flying will be out of Dallas/
and 10 CRJ900s
Ft. Worth (DFW). Eventually,
AtaGlance
F/O Josh Hjemvick
The
The
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
Pilots Break
New Ground
Using
InterestBased
Negotiations
and loser in a disagreement.
It’s imperative to find common ground and consensus
when views and opinions
differ. Open doors and lines
of communication have
proven to be the best way
of doing business and have
contributed to the ongoing
success of our airline. The
Bearskin MEC believes that
a harmonious and respectful
labour-management relationship is integral to the prosperity of any successful business.
Case in point—Bearskin will
celebrate its 50th anniversary
this July,” says Parnham, the
pilots’ MEC chairman.
A commonsense approach
to reaching consensus, in
addition to the MEC’s strong
relationship with company
executives, helped achieve a
WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
By Doug Baj
Manager,
Communications
Department
T
he pilots at Bearskin
Airlines and their
company are breaking new ground, taking an
unprecedented approach to
bargaining their fifth contract
and landing a quid pro quo
agreement that benefits both
the pilots and their airline.
In April 2012, the Bearskin
(MEC) leaders—Capts. Dan
Parnham, Rob Marsh, and
Steve Mauro—reached a
tentative agreement with
their company after only
seven months of main table
bargaining. They credit the
successful and expeditious
negotiations, which included
improvements to pay and
work rules for the pilots, cost
savings, and efficiency for
the airline, to the forward-
Bearskin
One of Bearskin’s 18 Metroliners.
looking techniques they used.
In 2011, the MEC, which
also serves as the Negotiating
Committee, proposed
interest-based-negotiations
(IBN) to the company. IBN
is a process by which both
parties discuss their issues
from a fact-based perspective and work to resolve
them as a team, creating an
outcome that both sides can
support. The Bearskin pilots,
assisted by ALPA’s Economic
and Financial Analysis and
Representation Departments,
were the first Canadian ALPA
pilot group to successfully use
the IBN process to complete
their entire negotiations.
“There has to be give and
take on both sides during
contract negotiations. There
can’t always be a winner
tentative agreement without
the pilots’ taking a strike vote
or threatening a labour dispute. And the pilots haven’t
filed a single grievance in
the last eight years. The MEC
says it’s the positive relationship with management that
moves the airline in the
direction both sides want and
need. The MEC leaders also
believe that their relationship
will continue to allow them to
mitigate any potential labourmanagement disputes, as
well as successfully navigate
their objectives in the everchanging airline industry.
The new four-year contract—which at press time
was drafted and nearly ready
for distribution to the pilots—includes cost savings for
the company from increased
scheduling flexibility and other
inefficiencies within the operation in exchange for better pay
and working conditions for its
pilots. “ALPA’s Economic and
Financial Analysis Department
was paramount in the success of these negotiations,”
Parnham says.
The MEC says that other
than obtaining the latest
contract, it’s business as usual
at the airline, which expanded
its fleet over the last year.
The airline purchased
four additional Fairchild
Metroliners, bringing the
all-Metro fleet to a total of 18.
The airplanes are equipped
with twin-turbine engines
and seat 19 passengers. More
airplanes mean a need for
more pilots. “Attracting and
retaining qualified pilots is a
growing concern for both the
MEC and the company,” says
Parnham.
The airline—which has
its primary base of operation
in Thunder Bay, Ont., and
smaller bases in Winnipeg,
Man.; Kitchener-Waterloo,
Ont.; and Sioux Lookout,
Ont.—offers more than 100
scheduled daily departures to
18 destinations in Manitoba
and Ontario. The airline has
established a niche market,
providing smaller communities with service and frequency typically only seen in
larger cities. This commuter
airline has found a recipe for
success that maintains profitability into its 50th year of
operation.
AtaGlance
n Pilots joined ALPA: 1997 (became
an ALPA-represented pilot group when
CALPA merged with ALPA)
n Pilot bases: Thunder Bay, Ont.;
Winnipeg, Man.; Kitchener-Waterloo,
Ont.; and Sioux Lookout, Ont.
n Headquarters: Sioux Lookout, Ont.
n Operations: Scheduled and charter
passenger service
n Fleet: 18 Metroliners
The
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
Refleeting
Leads to
Turbulence
By Rusty Ayers
Specialist
A
t Canada’s Calm Air,
an airline-wide refleeting project is making
the carrier more modern,
more competitive, and better equipped to take on new
business, while also creating
what’s hoped are only shortterm growing pains.
The combination of seat
movement and training,
unexpected layoffs, and
preparing for upcoming
contract negotiations has led
to unanticipated turbulence
for the close-knit pilot group,
which flies to northern
Manitoba and the Kivalliq
region of Nunavut from bases
in Winnipeg and Thompson,
Man.
Formerly an exclusively
turboprop operation, Calm Air
agement again announced
it would lay off almost 10
percent of the pilot group—
nine pilots—on December
9 because of economic pressures, strong competition in
key markets, and difficulty
acquiring suitable aircraft to
replace the Saab fleet at a fast
enough rate.
It was a huge blow to the
pilot group, says Capt. Dan
Cowan, the pilots’ MEC chairman. “We offered many solutions to keep our members
working, but unfortunately
the viable options were very
limited,” Cowan observes. “We
have not stopped trying to
find solutions. We’re told [our
furloughees] may be recalled
next spring, and we hope we
can bring all of them back.”
Calm Air
Calm Air’s Hawker Siddeley HS748 is configured for cargo only.
added the first jets to its fleet
in early 2012: two DornierFairchild D328 jets brought
in to provide medical services
while flying under a contract
with the territorial government of Nunavut.
In the summer, the airline
announced it was embarking
on a comprehensive fleet
renewal plan. All of Calm Air’s
Saab 340s would be replaced
with ATR turboprops as well
as the D328s. At almost the
same time, management announced it would be required
to reduce pilot staffing levels.
The pilots’ Master Executive
Council (MEC) responded by
working with the company
to negotiate voluntary leaves,
which prevented forced
reductions and layoffs.
But in November, man-
Those same economic
pressures will also complicate
the pilot group’s contract
negotiations. The current
five-year agreement expires
at the end of April 2013, and
the Negotiating Committee
began its preparations almost
a year earlier.
“We’ve had a strategic
planning summit in June
with our ALPA staff experts
and collective bargaining and
Strategic Planning Committee
representatives from other
ALPA Canada pilot groups.
Our negotiators got a strong
response from the pilot group
in a contract survey in July,”
says Cowan. “We’re ready to
get started bargaining for an
agreement that will recognize
our pilots’ value to the airline
while enabling the company
to grow and prosper.”
Calm Air is one of the
four ALPA pilot groups with
a representative on the new
ALPA President’s Committee
for Remote Operations, which
is examining the unique challenges airlines face working in
high Arctic regions in an effort
to improve service and safety.
Some of the ideas being considered include creating RNAV
approaches at every airport,
improving approach lighting,
and reducing the number of
unpaved runways.
Like many airlines that
serve the Arctic, Calm Air was
born as a bush pilot operation, using floatplanes to
serve remote fishing camps in
the 1950s and 1960s. By the
1970s, a boom in mining and
hydroelectric power production in northern Manitoba
brought rapid expansion to
the airline.
In 2009 Exchange Income
Corporation (EIC), a Winnipegbased holding company, purchased Calm Air. EIC is rapidly
expanding its airline holdings,
having bought another carrier,
Bearskin Airlines, whose pilots
ALPA represents, in 2011 and
Custom Helicopters, Ltd. last
February. The company also
owns Perimeter Aviation and
Keewatin Air.
AtaGlance
n Number of pilots: 95, with 9 on
furlough
n Operations: Scheduled passenger
and cargo service throughout northern
Manitoba and Nunavut, the newest
and largest territory in Canada, including destinations along the western
shores of Hudson Bay and into the
high Arctic
n Pilot bases: Thompson, Man., and
Winnipeg, Man.
n Headquarters: Thompson, Man.
n Fleet: 1 Hawker Siddeley HS748,
2 ATR 72s, 6 ATR 42s, and 2 30-seat
Fairchild Dornier D328 jets
n Fun fact: The name “Calm Air” was
not chosen to embody smooth flying—it’s an acronym of the founder’s
initials: Carl Arnold Lawrence Morberg
The
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
Pilots
Confront
Extreme
Weather
Conditions,
Scheduling
Challenges
By John Perkinson
Staff Writer
F
lying in the northernmost territories of
Canada, Canadian North
pilots transport daily both
passengers and cargo in what
most of us would consider
challenging conditions. Landings and takeoffs on remote
ice and gravel runways in the
polar Arctic weather are the
norm for these pilots, whose
distinctive skills are required
to “bend the throttles” for this
unique airline.
Capt. Chris Kampen, the
Council (MEC) chairman,
says that his airline has been
steadily hiring new pilots for
this demanding operation
to fulfill its plans for expansion. Canadian North has
announced that it will acquire
additional B-737-300s to
charters, and cargo and has
been with the airline since
its beginnings, and the MEC
looks forward to working with
Hankirk.
With the ratification of
the most recent collective
bargaining agreement, the
Canadian North pilots instituted a new credit system as
part of the overall scheduling
process. “That’s probably
the biggest positive change
as far as lifestyle goes,” says
Kampen. “It has taken us out
of the previous max-blocking
system and is one of the biggest gains from our last round
of negotiations.”
Because of the nature of
Canadian North flying, pilots
bid for days off and have
traditionally worked 18 or 19
days a month, depending on
Canadian
North
A Canadian North B-737-300
at Yellowknife.
supplement its current fleet,
which includes B-737-200s
and Dash 8-100s in addition
to B-737-300s.
F/O Wade Bowman, the
MEC vice chairman, notes
that 19 new pilots were
added at the end of the third
quarter of 2012.
With the next round of contract negotiations not set to
begin until December 2014,
the MEC is concentrating on
quality-of-life improvements
for its pilots. Facilitating
this effort is the reasonably
amicable relationship that
labour and management
share. Steve Hankirk recently
replaced Tracy Medve as
president of Canadian North.
Hankirk has served as vice
president of operations,
whether it was a 30- or 31day month. The new system
provides pilots with more
credits for time away from
base, allowing them to work
as few as 14 days a month
(although 16 to 17 days is
probably more common). The
MEC is also pressing for new
scheduling software, as the
current program is extremely
outdated and pilot leaders
would like to see the company move toward a system
that allows pilots to bid for
actual trips.
On its to-do list for 2013,
the Canadian North MEC
is working to establish a
Committee to support pilots
who need assistance in
overcoming the additional
hardships that come along
with flying in extremely challenging conditions. The pilot
group is also developing a
post-accident/-incident checklist to supplement the information ALPA provides on its
Worldwide Accident Hotline
“orange” card. The MEC pilot
representatives, through both
personal experience and
member feedback, recognize
that there are issues specific
to Canadian North operations
and that this new reference
item will address the airline’s
fleet and the nuances of
flying in Nunavut and the
Northwest Territories.
Along with these efforts,
the pilot group is ramping up
its current communications
efforts and plans to establish
a website as a resource for
Canadian North pilots sometime early in 2013.
Sporting the slogan
“Seriously Northern,”
Canadian North was established in 1989 as a subsidiary
of Canadian Airlines to
provide air transportation
for northern Canadian
communities. The airline
is owned by Norterra, an
aboriginal-owned holding
company divided between
the Inuvialuit Development
Corporation, representing
the Inuvialuit people of the
western Canadian Arctic,
and the Nunasi Corporation,
representing the Inuit people
of Nunavut. Canadian North
maintains its headquarters in
downtown Yellowknife.
AtaGlance
n Bases: Edmonton and Calgary, Alb.
n Headquarters: Yellowknife, NT
n Operations: Scheduled flights and
cargo services throughout Nunavut
and the Northwest Territories, as well
as charter operations throughout
Canada and the United States
n Fleet: B-737-200s, B-737-300s,
and Dash 8-100s
The
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
Pilots
Navigate
Negotiations
By Jessie Cornelius
Public Relations
Specialist
C
anJet pilots are keeping their spirits high
this season, flying
passengers to sunny vacation
destinations in the Caribbean,
Mexico, and beyond while
also navigating contract negotiations with the company.
“I think, for the most part,
we are being realistic about
what we can achieve,” says
Capt. Alex Sirros, the pilots’
(MEC) chairman. “Our goal is
to get a fair contract for our
members while ensuring that
the company maintains the
flexibility it needs to continue
its operations successfully.”
The pilots are making progress in what have been
contract. When a collective
agreement expires in Canada,
it remains in effect until
a new contract is ratified,
except in a situation in which
the employees strike or
the employer locks out the
employees. Otherwise, the
employer cannot unilaterally
change or modify the working
conditions in the contract
during the negotiations
process. In the United States,
contracts under the Railway
Labor Act do not expire.
Instead, they become amendable and remain in place until
an amended agreement is
negotiated or the National
Mediation Board releases the
parties to self-help.
CanJet
Capt. Alex Sirros, MEC chairman, heads to Cuba in 2012.
deemed smooth but tricky
negotiations.
After seven negotiating sessions—which
officially kicked off on
Feb. 20, 2012—the pilots’
Negotiating Committee has
made considerable headway
on administrative items,
which have been tentatively
agreed to, and plans to begin
addressing financial aspects,
including salary and per diem,
this year. The pilots’ current
contract, which was ratified in
May 2008, expired at the end
of March 2012.
While the labour laws in
Canada are different from
those in the United States,
collective bargaining agreements are treated similarly
upon reaching the end of a
The CanJet pilots are
optimistic that they will keep
negotiations moving forward
in 2013 and out of arbitration or litigation, which can
severely delay the process and
turn control of the outcome
over to a third party. The
MEC says that negotiations,
so far, have been smooth and
productive.
“ALPA gives us the tools
that we need,” says Sirros.
“From negotiations to
strategic planning to communications, the ALPA support
system is in place and always
there for us.”
Once the negotiations
are complete and a tentative agreement (TA) is
announced, the agreement
will be sent to the pilots for a
ratification vote. At that time,
the MEC plans to begin road
shows at pilot group bases in
Halifax, N.S.; Montreal, Que.;
Toronto, Ont.; and Vancouver,
B.C., to discuss the TA.
The group’s Pilot-to-Pilot
(P2P) communications—
which are a key part of their
strategic plan—will also play
an important role in informing
the pilots about the TA. P2P
pilot representatives will have
face-to-face discussions with
crewmembers on the line, in
crew rooms, and at airports to
provide factual information
from the MEC and an open
forum for asking questions
and getting answers. P2P has
been under way during the
negotiations process.
Another key aspect of the
pilots’ communication plans
is a new branding initiative.
With the help of ALPA’s
Communications Department,
the pilots are unveiling a new
look that will reflect their unity
and their work. The branding will be included in the
pilots’ e-mail updates known
as “PayDay Hotlines,” the
website, newsletters, presentations, and social media tools
that the MEC is considering
using to better connect with
the pilot group.
“Unity is our focus,” notes
Sirros. “We need to maintain
positive relationships and
break down any barriers
that exist between us and
management. At the end of
the day, our goals are all the
same—both ours and management—to have a successful company that we can work
at for a long time.”
AtaGlance
n Number of pilots: Approximately
130
n Operations: Provides subcontracting services to vacation charter
airlines
n Fleet: 5 B-737-800s and 7 B-737800s leased during high season
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
A Year of
Change for
Crewmembers
Capital Cargo
By Tawnya Burket
Communications
Specialist
T
he dedication and hard
work of the Capital
Cargo International
Airlines (CCIA) crewmembers
in the face of economic and
operating challenges they
confronted in 2011 did not
go unnoticed by parent company Air Transport Services
Group, Inc. (ATSG). In 2012,
ATSG focused on eliminating
redundant costs and providing a stronger, more secure
workplace by merging Capital
Cargo with another of its
airlines, Air Transport International (ATI).
Although early conversations between the two
group’s pilot leaders and
management began in
February, ATSG didn’t publicly
announce the merger until
May 10, 2012. The merger
pace intensified after the
parties negotiated a transition and process agreement
(TPA) with management that
streamlined the merger’s progression, which was ratified
on May 29 by 90 percent of
CCIA’s voting crewmembers.
The TPA first required
both the crewmembers’ and
management’s negotiating
teams to begin joint collective
bargaining agreement (JCBA)
expedited negotiations in
June and concluded with an
agreement-in-principle in
early August. The CCI MEC
then unanimously approved
sending the agreement to the
crewmembers for membership ratification. The ATI
MEC mirrored the CCI MEC’s
actions.
A planning meeting with
the ATI MEC and ALPA’s
and Communications
Department staff then
focused on preparing educational information about
the JCBA. That meeting
lasted two days in Arlington,
Tex., where a road show
schedule, presentation, and
informational packet were
developed. The MEC strongly
to management. This will
believed that the CCIA crewmembers needed a thorough complete ALPA’s primary
TPA obligations and allow
JCBA briefing as the contract
management to complete the
is based mainly on the ATI
regulatory requirements in
agreement with important
merging operations.
modifications, including
As the year closed, unnew pay rates for the B-757
fortunate news came to the
freighter and the B-757
crewmembers as managecombi, dual qualification on
ment parked the remaining
the B-757 and B-767, expediB-727 aircraft and delayed an
tious transition of CCIA
additional B-757 joining the
crewmembers to ATI, and
fleet in an attempt to reduce
some other CCIA provisions
costs and weather the tough
that the parties recognized
economic storm. This decision
as beneficial to the larger
resulted in more than 40
group.
furloughs, which included all
In September, the pilot
of the airline’s flight engineers.
groups jointly ratified the
JCBA by 63
percent voting in favor.
“It was apparent to the
crewmembers that this
agreement
would
eliminate the
whipsawing Capt. George Savage and F/O Curtis Waldeck
against each performing a preflight check in Cincinnati, Ohio,
other, which before their flight to Nashville, Tenn.
drove down
“We received some devunity, pay, and quality-of
astating news from managelife-issues. It also produces
ment and while we knew this
a larger, unified pilot group
day was coming, no one knew
that will speak with a stronit was coming so quickly,” says
ger voice than two smaller
Hill. “I am hopeful that this
groups,” says F/O Chuck Hill,
setback is temporary and that
the CCI MEC chairman. “Our
once the economy and ATI
future is at a combined ATI
recovers and grows, everyone
that provides management
will have the opportunity to
with the means to run a
return to work.”
single, secure airline with
room for growth.”
The TPA similarly required
an aggressive schedule for
integrating the two seniorn Pilots joined ALPA: 2007
ity lists. Direct integrated
n Number of crewmembers: 115,
seniority list (ISL) negotiations with 68 on furlough
n Headquarters: Orlando, Fla.
began in August and were
n Operations: Capital Cargo is an
followed in September by
aircraft, crew, maintenance, and
meetings with a mediator/arinsurance (ACMI) carrier that provides
bitrator. The MECs submitted
airport-to-airport cargo transportafinal written arguments to the tion services both domestically and
internationally
arbitrator on October 15.
n Crewmember bases: Home-based
The CCIA crewmemn Hub city: Cincinnati, Ohio
bers patiently await the
n Fleet: Currently operates B-757arbitrator’s issuance of the
200 PCFs—all aircraft are freighter
integrated seniority list,
conversions
which will then be presented
AtaGlance
Capt. Steve Mathis (Capital Cargo)
The
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
Building
Proficiency
CommutAir
By Rusty Ayers
Specialist
F
or an airline pilot, “proficiency” is defined in a
number of ways: aircraft
and operational knowledge,
mastery of flying the airplane,
good CRM skills, and a professional bearing. Most of these
traits are not natural skills but
must be learned.
That same learning curve
applies to union-building—a
successful and unified pilot
group is built not in a day, but
over time, through attention
to detail and doing the little
things right. After five years
of ALPA membership, the
CommutAir Master Executive
Council (MEC) is demonstrating its proficiency in representing its pilots, many of
whom are first-time members
of the Association.
“CommutAir is the first
airline job many of our members have ever had,” explains
Capt. Todd Harris, the pilots’
MEC chairman. “It’s also their
first time being union members. Our mission as an MEC
is to help our people learn
to become the best possible
pilots and ALPA members so
that they can get their careers
off to a good start.”
CommutAir pilots joined
ALPA in mid-2008 and almost
immediately began work
on getting their first union
contract. After several years of
bargaining, the pilots negotiated a collective bargaining
agreement that took effect on
Dec. 1, 2011.
They were among the
lowest-paid turboprop pilots
in the U.S., but their new
contract raised salaries to
near industry standards while
giving them more time off
and securing other benefits
and work rule improvements.
Throughout 2012, the
CommutAir Contract
Implementation Team began
the complex but necessary
work of fine-tuning and
enforcing the new agreement.
The team met with management on a regular basis,
identifying areas in which
contractual language needed
clarification or improvement.
Through their efforts, the
pilots were able to negotiate
several letters of agreement
(LOA), including a vacation
LOA that clarifies and improves the annual vacation
bidding process. In addition to
the LOAs, the MEC made sure
pilots facing discipline had
their newly negotiated due
process rights upheld, preventing arbitrary management
disciplinary actions.
An MEC is fortified by its
committees and as such, committee members collaborated
with management on issues
Capt. Matt Westbrook (CommutAir)
The
Dash 8 Capt. Peter Sik.
great and small in 2012: joining the Known Crewmember®
program, getting pilots out of
substandard hotels, and creating safe zones around aircraft
operating in busy, congested
ramp areas like those at IAD
and EWR.
The newly created
Critical Incident Response
Program (CIRP) Committee
came into existence just
before superstorm Sandy
hit, acting immediately to
support members who were
potentially affected by the
hurricane. All pilots who lived
within 100 miles of EWR
were contacted to ensure
the safety of the pilots and
their families. CommutAir’s
Training Committee is keenly
focused on professional
development, especially that
of new hires with limited
flight hours. To help build
proficiency, the committee
developed a detailed Dash
8-Q200/Q300 study guide and
quick reference guide, as well
as a mentoring program for
all new hires and upgrades so
that they have a pilot to turn
to with questions or issues on
the line.
Other active volunteers
were those on the Scheduling
Committee. Trained on the
company’s trip-building software, the committee helped
create less fatiguing, more
commuter-friendly trips. When
management opened a third
pilot domicile, the MEC and
the committee convinced the
company to move the base
from Syracuse, N.Y., to Dulles,
Va.
A looming challenge facing
the CommutAir group in 2013
is its future relationship with
United Airlines, where the
United-Continental merger is
putting many regional partnerships in transition.
“We feel we’re well
positioned to succeed. We
continue to add pilots, we are
profitable and cost-effective,
and the union continues to
show its value both to our
members and to the company
by helping make our operation
as productive as possible,” says
Harris. “We hope United feels
the same way and gives us
even more responsibility as it
grows.”
AtaGlance
n Founded: 1989
190
n Headquarters: South Burlington, Vt.
n Pilot bases: Cleveland, Ohio;
Newark, N.J.; and Dulles, Va.
n Operations: CommutAir flies to
more than 25 cities in the Midwest,
Northeast, and Canada under a
capacity-purchase agreement with
United Airlines
n Fleet: 16 37-seat Dash 8-Q200s
and 5 50-seat Dash 8-Q300s
The
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
Liftoff, and
The Clock Is
Running
Compass
By Rusty Ayers
Specialist
T
he pilots of Compass
Airlines are the latest
group to embrace the
concept of fast-tracking the
negotiations process in order to bring positive change
faster than the traditional
Section 6 process.
In November 2012, the
Minneapolis-based airline
exchanged contract openers
with the pilots, and the two
sides began direct negotiations in December. But the
structure of the talks is radically different from the usual
bargaining track, thanks to
an unusual caveat that dates
from Compass’s birth almost
six years ago.
Compass was originally
created as a wholly owned
subsidiary of Northwest
Airlines, and the former
Northwest Master Executive
Council (MEC) negotiated
its current contract in 2007.
The contract included a letter of agreement (LOA) that
requires Compass and its
management to enter mediation-arbitration to amend its
current collective bargaining
agreement, instead of using
the typical Railway Labor Act
contract model.
“While mediation-arbitration is often used for settling
grievance cases, bargaining an
entire contract via mediatorarbitrator is a novelty for
an ALPA pilot group. The
process demands a clearly
defined time line,” says Capt.
Dan Schultz, the pilots’ MEC
chairman.
“Under the terms of the
LOA, our direct bargaining
with the company will last no
longer than 175 days from
Dec. 11, 2012, and the entire
bargaining cycle should be
completed by the end of this
year,” explains Schultz.
If no agreement is reached
by 175 days after the start
of direct negotiations, the
company and the pilots will
engage in mediation with
a mediator-arbitrator. After
265 days of negotiations, the
unresolved issues (no more
than 20 issues per side) will
be submitted to the arbitrator
for a final and binding award,
to be issued no later than
Nov. 25, 2013.
However, a lot has changed
since the ink dried on the
original Northwest agreement. Northwest merged with
Delta, and Compass became
a Delta subsidiary. Then in
2010, Delta sold the airline to
St. Louis-based Trans States
Holdings, which owns Trans
States Airlines and GoJet,
whose pilots ALPA does not
represent.
Compass remains a Delta
Connection airline, and almost half the pilot group has
Capt. Ryan Breznau is one of
three pilot negotiators who
will be conducting Compass’s
fast-track contract talks.
flow-up rights to Delta under
a previous flow agreement.
A fast-track negotiation
could be beneficial for the
Compass pilots, since Trans
States Holdings is notorious
for its drawn-out bargaining.
But there are challenges as
well: if the process goes to
arbitration, the arbitrator’s
award could be based on
management’s last offer, the
union’s last offer, or whatever
the arbitrator decides are
industry-standard pay rates
and work rules.
“The big question is
whether the 330-day clock is
realistic,” Schultz notes. “We
are committed to bargain
within the time constraints,
and we hope management
is prepared to do so as well.
Anything that keeps the negotiations from dragging on for
years should be welcomed by
both sides.”
Compass is one of the
top performers in the Delta
system, operating Embraer
aircraft of similar size and
flying routes similar to those
once flown by Northwest’s
Douglas DC-9s.
“It’s a stretch to call us a
‘regional’ carrier, because like
many of the fee-for-departure
airlines, we are doing
everything the mainline
does—we fly internationally
and transcontinentally using
mainline-gauge aircraft, doing
everything the DC-9s used to
do,” says Schultz.
While other regional
airlines have merged or contracted, Compass continues to
expand. The airline is slowly
adding new-hire pilots to the
group, which is organized in
seniority blocks under the
aegis of ALPA’s Council 19.
AtaGlance
n Founded: Compass Airlines was
created as a Northwest Airlines
subsidiary and began operations on
May 2, 2007
n Sale and acquisition: On July 1,
2010, Delta Air Lines sold Compass
to Trans States Holdings, Inc., which
is running it separately from its other
airlines, Trans States and GoJet
n Operations: More than 190 flights
daily to 57 destinations throughout
the United States and Canada as Delta
Connection
n Pilot bases: Minneapolis–St. Paul,
Minn., and Detroit, Mich.
n Headquarters: Minneapolis, Minn.
n Fleet: 36 Embraer E175s and 6
Embraer E170s
The
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
Continental,
United Pilots
Begin a New
Chapter
Continental
By ALPA Staff
F
or Continental pilots,
2012 culminated in
the joint ratification of
a joint collective bargaining
agreement (JCBA) with United
pilots, a considerable feat in
itself, and an important step
toward becoming a single, unified pilot group. The achievement was significant, given
the more than two and half
years spent in negotiations for
the JCBA and the enormity of
combining two disparate contracts into a single agreement
that would be acceptable to
all United pilots in this merger
of equals. The task, critical to
the successful creation of the
world’s largest airline, was unmatched in complexity, even
when compared to previously
record-setting airline mergers.
The result was an industryleading contract that provides
substantial benefit to both
Continental and United pilots,
and advances the airline piloting profession by setting new
standards for other airlines to
use as the basis for their own
negotiations.
Contracts of this value do
not come easily. They require
strategic planning, commitment, and a unified effort,
such as the tremendous show
of unity by Continental and
United pilots in July 2012 as
they overwhelmingly granted
their union leaders authorization to strike, with 99 percent
of those voting in favor of
the authorization. This vote
followed many months of
joint efforts, including informational picketing, family
awareness events, legislative
efforts, news media communications, and other actions
that were designed to exert
leverage during negotiations
and demonstrate the depth
of solidarity between the two
pilot groups. The year was also significant for Continental pilots in
other ways. With the delivery
of the first B-787 Dreamliners,
United Continental Holdings
became the first U.S. airline
to fly this aircraft. The Conti
nental pilot ranks grew as
furloughed United pilots,
fondly nicknamed “U-hires,”
were welcomed into the
cockpits.
As 2013 unfolds, the
Continental pilots will increasingly see the benefits of these
efforts and their unity with
United pilots through the
JCBA, following gains in pay
rates, per diem, retirement
plan contributions, and other
increases that became effective retroactively to Nov.
30, 2012. The other parts
of the agreement, including
industry-leading provisions in
scope, work rules, and retirement and benefits, as well as
the new FAR Part 117 regula-
Capt. Jay Pierce, the Conti
nental pilots’ MEC chairman.
tions, will be implemented
on a defined schedule
under the guidance of a joint
implementation team, staffed
in equal part by ALPA pilots.
(United management agreed
to implement FAR Part 117
in conjunction with the new
agreement, ahead of the federally mandated January 2014
implementation date.) The
undertaking and its results
will be no less significant than
the achievement of the initial
agreement in moving the
Continental and United pilots
forward toward a new future.
The Continental Master
Merger Committee will
continue on a parallel path
toward integrating the two
seniority lists. The process
follows policy outlined
in ALPA’s Administrative
Manual, Section 45, as well
as the provisions negotiated
between the two pilot groups
in a protocol agreement
developed at the time the
merger was announced. The
integration follows a defined
time line designed to begin
arbitration (if necessary) no
later than 140 days from the
date of the tentative agreement. Continental pilots and
United pilots will be joined on
a single, integrated seniority
list—another large step closer
to complete unity and well on
their way to solidifying their
position as a leading pilot
group within the industry.
If the past is any indicator
of the future, the future for
Continental pilots will be both
challenging and rewarding
as the merger with United
is finally completed. Work
remains, but the last steps are
being completed to interlace
the strands of both groups
into a new fabric that is stronger and more vibrant.
Says Capt. Jay Pierce, the
Continental pilots’ MEC chairman, “Most everything of
value is the product of hard
work and sacrifice. I cannot
sufficiently thank the pilots
and ALPA staff who have
worked so hard and given so
much over the years to get
this contract done. I am confident that the day is upon us
where we are not Continental
and United pilots, but truly
all United pilots, standing
together.”
AtaGlance
n Pilots rejoined ALPA: 2001
n Pilot bases/hubs: Newark, N.J.;
Houston, Tex.; Cleveland, Ohio; Guam;
Los Angeles, Calif.; Denver, Colo.; and
Chicago, Ill.
n Headquarters: Chicago, Ill.
n Fleet: B-787-8s/-9s, B777-200ERs, B-767-200ERs/-400ERs,
B-757-200s/-300s, and B-737-500s/700s/-800s/-900s/-900ERs
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
Pilot Contract
2012: A Game
Changer
Delta
By Kelly Regus
Specialist
I
n 2012, the Delta pilot group
endorsed a game changer in
the form of a ratified collec
tive bargaining agreement,
Contract 2012, which improved
pay, work rules, and career
opportunities more than six
months before the contract’s
amendable date. Among the
hallmark details that led to
the successful negotiations
and ultimate ratification were
preparation, flexibility, an early
opener, an intense eight weeks
of negotiations, and a ratified
agreement.
Initial preparations began
in January 2011. Early strategy
included contract modifications resulting from the joint
Scheduling Optimization
Team and ongoing problemsolving negotiations, working
with senior executives on highlevel business discussions, and
engaging the pilot group in an
informational and educational
effort. These three aspects set
the table in case the right opportunity to negotiate a new
contract presented itself.
First, the optimization
team concept capitalized on
the opportunity to achieve
meaningful mid-contract
improvements in an effort to
clear away the underbrush,
even though these improvements were of the magnitude
that normally would have
been negotiated during
Section 6 negotiations. For
this reason, the optimization
team concept remains valuable even after reaching the
recent agreement.
Second, the Master
was on the lookout for the
right strategic opportunity
to open and leverage negotiations, recognizing that a
well-developed, efficient plan
would most likely yield more
meaningful gains than the
traditional long, drawn-out
Section 6 process. The MEC
spent much of its time in
strategic planning, and the
right opportunity revealed
itself in early 2012. As Capt.
Tim O’Malley, the pilots’
MEC chairman, explained
in a letter to Delta pilots,
“We believe opportunities
exist—right now—to reach a
comprehensive agreement on
an expedited time line, but let
me make this point perfectly
clear. While we will attempt to
expedite the process, we will
not compromise the product.”
By early March, 10 months
ahead of the amendable date,
the MEC was prepared to
enter negotiations. The MEC
approved a contract opener
and directed the Negotiating
Committee to engage with
management. O’Malley wrote
to the pilot members an ambitious statement, “We chose
not to wait.” The goal was an
expedited, comprehensive
agreement.
Third, critical to the pilot
education process was the
Delta Pilot Network (DPN),
which provided opportunities
to share information with the
goal of building unity through
pilot unity building, or PUB,
tours across the country in
which pilots interacted with
each other, ALPA, and DPN
leaders.
The MEC also emphasized
accessibility to information. DPN and Pilot-to-Pilot
maintained a Frequently
Asked Questions database.
Additionally, the MEC disseminated more than 1 million pages of printed material
to pilots and their families,
and LEC representatives
remained available in pilot
lounges around the clock, all
with the goal of providing the
correct information necessary
for the members to make an
informed decision by the end
of June, just 3½ months after
negotiations began.
Section 6 negotiations
often take years to complete,
during which the probability
increases that external strategic and economic events
will affect negotiations. If the
National Mediation Board
becomes involved, the time
line can be substantially
lengthened and more people
who care less about pilot issues become involved at each
step along the way.
Therefore, expediency in
capitalizing on a favorable
advantage was the soundest
strategy to yield the most positive results in a timely manner.
In his letter endorsing the
tentative agreement, O’Malley
summarized, “When viewed in
the aggregate, this [contract]
represents a huge win for the
Delta pilots, particularly in the
areas of scope, sick leave, and
reserve work rules.”
Doug Baj
The
F/O Len Empie, MEC Aviation
Security Committee vice
chairman, passes through
the Known Crewmember®
checkpoint at HartsfieldJackson International Airport.
AtaGlance
n Joint ventures and alliances:
Delta is the founding member of the
SkyTeam Alliance and participates in
joint ventures with Air France-KLMAlitalia and Virgin Australia
n Operations: Delta and its Connection carriers fly to more than 331
destinations in 60 countries on six
continents
n Pilot bases: Atlanta, Ga.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Detroit, Mich.; Los Angeles,
Calif.; Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.;
New York City; Salt Lake City, Utah;
and Seattle, Wash.
n Hub cities: Amsterdam; Atlanta;
Cincinnati; Detroit; Memphis, Tenn.;
Minneapolis–St. Paul; New York (JFK);
Paris (CDG); Salt Lake City; and Tokyo
(Narita)
n Fleet: More than 700 mainline airplanes: A319s, A320s, A330s, B-737s,
B-747s, B-757s, B-767s, B-777s,
DC-9s, MD-88s, and MD-90s
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
The Future
Remains
In Doubt
Evergreen
By Tawnya Burket
Communications
Specialist
T
he crewmembers of
Evergreen International
Airlines continued their
battle to secure a new contract
in 2012 after being in negotiations for eight years—many
of which were in mediation
conducted by the National
Mediation Board (NMB).
The pilots rejected the
first tentative agreement
in 2010 by a 96 percent
margin because, based on the
company’s financial condition, it lacked pay increases.
Company finances continued
to deteriorate and negotiations remained at a standstill
in 2012 until March, when
the crewmembers’ Master
Notwithstanding pay
increases, no concessions in
the key business travel areas
of the contract, and management’s attendance at road
shows to explain the company’s dire financial condition,
pilots again voted against the
agreement—this time by an
80 percent margin—in late
November.
“The members have
spoken, and they have refused
to accept the proposed agreement. There is too much doubt
in their minds to trust management, with Evergreen making
late payments on payroll
and to vendors, furloughing
more than half of the crew-
between the parties remains
under the supervision of the
NMB, with which the MEC
and ALPA will consult to
determine future steps.
Similar to other airlines
in the cargo arena that are
struggling with the current
economy, Evergreen decided
to park its B-747 Classic fleet
in December, which triggered
additional furloughs—including its remaining professional
flight engineers.
“This is a very sad time
and an end of an era,” says
Touchette. “Each flight engineer has always performed
his or her duties in the most
professional manner that I
Capt. Claude Chimene (Evergreen)
The
This photo of Mt. Etna in Siganella, Sicily, was taken during a period of frequent volcanic activity
from the outside of one of Evergreen’s B-747-200s.
Negotiating Committee
informally explored ideas that
might provide avenues to a
contract that included pay
increases. On September 11,
the NMB resumed mediation in Washington, D.C., to
attempt to close out the last
two open issues, compensation and business-class travel.
While a comprehensive agreement couldn’t be reached,
pilot leaders agreed to put out
for pilot ratification management’s last offer. It included
pay increases in year two and
three of the three-year offer.
members, and training delays
occurring because of financial
constraints,” says Capt. James
Touchette, the crewmembers’
MEC chairman. “We will
remain unified as we await
direction from the NMB and
ALPA officials, and continue
down the path to achieving a
contract that will satisfy the
needs of the pilot group.”
The current contract signed
between TAG (the pilots’
previous independent labor
organization) and the airline
in 1999 remains in effect,
as do all subsequent letters
of agreement. Bargaining
have ever witnessed. We have
laughed together, we have
cried together, and we have
succeeded together. They will
all be missed.”
AtaGlance
n Flightcrew members joined
ALPA: 2007
n Number of flightcrew members:
214, with 135 on furlough
n Headquarters: McMinnville, Ore.
n Pilot base: New York (JFK)
n Operations: With a fleet of 5
B-747s, Evergreen specializes in
charter and contract freighter operations around the globe
The
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
Focused on
Securing the
Future
ExpressJet
By Lydia Jakub
Specialist
S
everal airline mergers
and other types of airline transactions have
occurred in the past few
years, and throughout the
U.S. airline industry continued
consolidation will be the wave
of the future. For the pilots
of ExpressJet, the news that
SkyWest, Inc., was again courting their company and subsequently announced in 2010
a merger with its subsidiary,
Atlantic Southeast Airlines,
came as no surprise.
ExpressJet had long since
distinguished itself as a leader
within the regional airline
industry and was looking
to further its legacy. Pilot
leaders, while optimistic that
the merger would provide
additional opportunities
for long-term success, were
sections, and all sections have
been opened for discussion.
Negotiations ceased for a
brief period in mid-2012 so
that each of the three parties
could evaluate their bargaining priorities and positions.
JCBA discussions have since
resumed, and the parties
have made progress in some
additional areas.
Over the past year, pilot
leaders have also worked with
management to harmonize
their systems and programs.
With scheduling, for example,
management was interested
in moving the line bid process
to a preferential bidding system as is done for the Atlantic
Southeast operation. The
ExpressJet pilots investigated
all available programs and
worked to bring the one that
best met their
needs to the
pilot group
for testing.
That program
is currently
being used
for phasetwo bidding
to provide
F/O Joe Costanza prepares for a flight at
reserve pilots
Newark International Airport.
with some
determined to protect their
control over their schedules.
pilots’ interests throughout
Additionally, management
the process. Now two years
has leaned on the pilot group
into the merger, neither their
for support with its employee
focus nor their commitment
assistance programs after
has wavered.
some corporate staff cuts
“Our pilots are our highresulting from the merger.
est priority,” says Capt. Chris
The ExpressJet pilots’ Pilot
Grable, chairman of the pilots’ Assistance program is highly
regarded and serves as a
(MEC). “We are, among other
model for employees helping
things, working to secure
their fellow employees. Work
the right contract for the
was done to develop training,
collective pilot group—one
protocols, and procedures
that recognizes pilot contribu- to meet the needs of the
tions, protects pilot jobs, and
combined employee group.
improves the quality of life for Through this program, pilots
all our pilots.”
and other employees are getCurrently in negotiations
ting the help they need at a
for a joint collective bargaintime when they need it most.
ing agreement (JCBA), the
Contract enforcement and
parties have reached tentaeducation efforts, meanwhile,
tive agreements on more
also remain high priorities.
than half of the contract
The backlog of issues that
accumulated before the
merger has been addressed,
and any new grievances filed
are typically dealt with in a
timely manner.
In December 2012, the
ExpressJet MEC met to assess
the current situation and determine the course for achieving the goals established by
the pilot group. Key to their
strategy is communications.
The MEC has made a
fundamental shift in the way
it keeps the pilots informed.
Pilot leaders are working to
provide line pilots with as
much information as possible
on where issues stand in the
bargaining process. This, they
believe, will help the pilot
group better understand the
negotiating process and end
result. Members will also
have more opportunities to
speak directly with their union
leaders, ensuring that they
are informed and prepared to
take action when called upon.
Family Awareness events were
held at venues near each of
the pilots’ four bases in 2012,
and more events will be held
throughout 2013 in areas with
a high pilot population.
“We’re committed to the
success of the new ExpressJet
Airlines,” Grable says. “It was
formed to be a powerhouse
within the industry. As we
work collaboratively to fulfill
this objective and protect
our pilots’ interests, the resultant airline will attract and
retain business and qualified
professionals so that all may
prosper.”
AtaGlance
n Number of pilots: More than 2,800
n Operations: Flies as United
Express to 42 states plus destinations
in Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean
n Pilot bases: Chicago, Ill.; Cleveland,
Ohio; Houston, Tex.; and Newark, N.J.
n Fleet: 249 airplanes, including
ERJ135s and ERJ145s
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
Pilots Meet
Challenges
In 2012 and
Look to Build
On Past
Successes
In 2013
FedEx
Express
By Courtney Bland
Communications
Specialist
A
t the close of 2011, the
FedEx Express Master
Executive Council
(MEC) knew several issues
would need to be addressed
beginning in 2012. The new
year began with an important
decision—should the pilots
elect to accept the 12-month
extension to their agreement
ratified in 2011 or reject the
extension and reenter Section 6 negotiations? After
carefully considering survey
results and briefings from key
subject-matter experts, the
MEC unanimously decided to
retain a 3 percent across-theboard pay increase for 2012
and maintain the current
contract through March 2013.
“The decision to extend
the agreement an additional
12 months aligned not only
with the opinions of the
subject-matter experts but
also with our crewmembers.
Notwithstanding this decision, the MEC unanimously
believed that the remaining
contractual issues could not
wait years to be settled and
therefore used the better part
of 2012 to resolve outstanding
issues through interim discussions,” says Capt. Scott Stratton,
the pilots’ MEC chairman.
Extending the duration of
the contract did not delay
tackling contract issues. In
fact, the company and
ALPA met every six weeks
throughout 2012, pursuant
to an interim discussion
model agreed to during the
2010 negotiations. ALPA
negotiators maintained the
MEC-sanctioned focus on a
limited number of core issues.
The result was good strategic
positioning for 2013. “Our
negotiators have steadily
worked their way toward the
pilots’ cornerstone objectives.
They have had detailed
discussions on a number of
issues that our pilots deemed
critical, and they did it while
every pilot enjoyed the benefit of a pay raise. The fact
that we were at the table with
the company also enabled
us to tackle a number of
unexpected issues associated
with the newest FedEx foreign
duty assignment, Cologne,
Germany. Considering that
our amendable date is Feb.
25, 2013, we are pleased with
our position and anticipate a
timely conclusion to Section 6
bargaining,” notes Stratton.
Regarding the FAA’s new
flight-time/duty-time rules,
the pilots were disappointed
by the government’s decision
to exclude cargo operations
from the new modernized,
science-based regulations.
However, the FedEx MEC,
courtney bland
The
F/O Amy Allen spends time
with one of the children at
Memphis Hope House during
the pilots’ annual visit.
pilot volunteers, and ALPA
national have been working
diligently to remove the cargo
“carveout” from the new rules.
Immediately following the announcement, the MEC worked
extensively with ALPA’s leaders
and the Government Affairs
Department, along with key
Scheduling and Legislative
Committee experts, to develop
a course of action to urge the
FAA to adopt the same rules
for cargo operations as for
passenger operations.
By spring 2012, Reps. Chip
Cravaack (R-Minn.) and Tim
Bishop (D-N.Y.) announced the
introduction of the Safe Skies
Act of 2012. “The introduction
of this act speaks volumes
about the work being done
by ALPA and the FedEx MEC
legislative team,” Stratton says.
This legislation would advance
ALPA’s campaign for “One
Level of Safety” for pilots by
directing the Department of
Transportation to apply the
FAA’s flight- and duty-time
regulations and minimum rest
requirements to all-cargo operations in the same way that
the regulations currently apply
to passenger operations. As we
move into 2013, this issue will
continue to keep FedEx pilots
engaged and fighting for One
Level of Safety.
The 4,581 FedEx Express
pilots are spread across the
globe, represented by seven
councils located in three
domiciles as well as pilots assigned to foreign duty in Hong
Kong and Cologne, Germany.
Understanding the communication challenges that
a global pilot group presents,
the MEC continues to engage
its members through a variety
of media designed to better
reach pilots, including interactive conference and video
calls, video messages, e-mails,
a revamped website, and text
notification. The MEC office
also underwent major construction to provide more meeting
space and committee offices,
all improvements designed to
better serve the pilots.
With more than 375
airports served worldwide, the
airline has an extensive and
varied fleet. The pilots deliver
approximately 3.5 million
packages and 11 million
pounds of freight daily to
more than 220 countries and
territories, including every address in the United States.
AtaGlance
n Pilots joined ALPA: June 1993–
1996; rejoined ALPA in June 2002
n First ALPA contract: October 2006
n Number of flightcrew members:
4,581
n Headquarters: Memphis, Tenn.
n Fleet: 35 B-727s, 77 B-757s, 21
B-777s, 71 A300s, 35 A310s, 69
MD-10s, and 64 MD-11s
The
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
Seeking
Consistency
By Rusty Ayers
Specialist
A
t First Air, the pilots
are currently facing
the challenge of management turnover, as the
revolving door of executives
has forced the pilot leaders
in the past two years to work
with three different CEOs and
three flight operations vice
presidents.
“There’s been no consistency whatsoever in the executive suite, and it’s made it
very difficult to get anything
done,” says F/O Devin Lyall,
the Master Executive Council
(MEC) chairman for the 142
pilots and flight engineers.
“We can’t build relationships
with our senior management,
whose first reaction when
a new CEO comes in is to
restructure the operation and
look for things to change.
parade of airline executives
have not reached agreement
on key issues. Federal conciliation also failed, and the MEC
is now preparing to apply for
arbitration.
“We are not seeking major
increases, but we do need
cost-of-living raises since so
many of us live in remote
areas. We are also trying to
make our work rules and
other contract language more
consistent with language
contained in other ALPA pilot
group contracts,” says Lyall.
In August, the crewmembers observed the first anniversary of the crash of Flight
6560, a B-737-200 combination passenger/freighter that
crashed on approach to the
tiny airport at Resolute in
Nunavut Territory, 600 miles
First Air
WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
A First Air ATR 42 at Cambridge Bay
Airport, Nunavut, Canada.
It’s really beginning to take
a toll.”
This frustrating inconsistency, along with a tragic
accident, increased competition, declining government
subsidies, stalled contract
negotiations, and the recent
news of layoffs, has created
tension and uncertainty at
First Air. In November 2012,
management announced
plans to lay off more than 10
percent of the airline’s flight
crews and close its B-737 base
in Yellowknife, NT.
First Air flightcrew
members joined ALPA more
than four years ago with the
hopes of contract resolution.
However, they are still operating under an old contract
after more than two years
of negotiations because the
pilots and the ever-changing
north of the Arctic Circle. The
accident took the lives of all
four crewmembers, as well
as eight passengers. Three
passengers survived. Canada’s
Transportation Safety Board
is still investigating the
accident.
The Flight 6560 crew left
behind seven young children,
and all of ALPA has rallied to
support the children and their
families. The pilots created an
aviation calendar that to date
has raised almost $20,000 for
the survivors’ education fund.
The Flight 6560 accident
highlighted the realities of
Arctic flying, where modern
landing aids are rare. Most
of the runways in the polar
region are gravel at best and
sometimes only temporary,
bulldozed from the ice of a
frozen lake or glacier.
This has motivated the
creation of ALPA’s new
President’s Committee on
Remote Operations, aimed
at improving safety at rugged
airstrips ALPA pilots fly into
and out of in Alaska, Nunavut,
the Northwest Territory, and
the Yukon. Capt. Peter Black,
First Air’s MEC vice chairman,
chairs the committee.
Looking back over the past
few years, joining ALPA was
one of the pilot group’s best
decisions, says Lyall. “Being
members of ALPA gives our
small group the resources to
effectively represent all of our
pilots and flight engineers.
With this great support, we’ve
been able to remain strong
and unified so that we can go
to work and do our jobs like
the professional flight crews
we are,” he says.
Flying scheduled service
to some of the most remote
and inhospitable places on
the planet, “the Airline of the
North” provides a lifeline to
a few dozen communities
scattered across the Canadian
Arctic and also flies cargo
charters around the world.
The airline is wholly
owned by the Inuit people of
Quebec through the Makivik
Corporation, which spent
much of 2012 trying to sell
the airline before it abandoned those plans.
AtaGlance
n Founded: 1946, as Bradley Air
Service, now owned by Makivik
Corporation
n Number of crewmembers: 142
n Pilot bases: Ottawa, Ont.;
Yellowknife, NT; Iqaluit, NU; and
Edmonton, Alb.
n Headquarters: Kanata, Ont.
n Operations: Provides scheduled
passenger and cargo service between
30 northern communities plus charter
service worldwide
n Fleet: 7 B-737-200s (four combi),
1 B-767F, 9 ATR 42-300s, 2 ATR
72-212s (all combi), and 2 Lockheed
L-382 Hercules
The
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
Cooperation
Pays Big
Dividends
to fly to New Zealand.
“We’re now seeing the
result of some of our decisions in years past beginning
to bear fruit,” says Capt. Rick
Horne, the pilots’ Master
chairman. “Working with
management has been a winwin for both sides, but sometimes you need patience and
foresight to make it happen.
We won’t always agree, but
we strive to develop creative
solutions to the challenges
we face as the airline industry
continues to change.”
Hawaiian’s rapid growth
has been fueled in part by a
new equipment LOA the MEC
approved in 2008 that allowed
management to buy fuelefficient A330 widebodies as
a replacement for their aging
WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
By Rusty Ayers
Specialist
I
f you want a great illustration of how management
and labor work well together, you need look no further
than Hawaiian Airlines, where
a new atmosphere of pilotmanagement cooperation
has helped make the carrier
one of the nation’s leading
airlines.
After the airline emerged
from Chapter 11 bankruptcy
in 2006, the company’s new
management began the
difficult task of rebuilding the
airline’s route structure and
stabilizing its finances. Almost
three years of sometimes
contentious negotiations
ended with an industryleading contract in January
2010, and the pilots and CEO
Mark Dunkerley have collaborated to bring Hawaiian to its
Hawaiian
A Hawaiian Airlines Airbus A330-200 at Tokyo International
Airport (Haneda ) in 2011.
strongest financial position in
decades.
Since contract ratification, the pilots’ Negotiating
Committee has continued to
work nonstop, achieving a total of 19 letters of agreement
(LOA) with management.
Many of these LOAs were triggered by the dramatic changes
in the airline’s route structure
as it has evolved from a luxury
niche player to a full-scale
international airline.
Currently, Hawaiian is
expanding in every sector of
its operation: transpacific,
interisland, and international.
It’s building a fleet of new
state-of-the-art airplanes,
is consistently hiring pilots
every month, and soon will
become the first U.S. airline
B-767s. The A330’s longer
range has enabled Hawaiian to
add destinations in Australia,
Japan, and South Korea. The
airline now flies nonstop from
Honolulu to JFK, has plans
to add additional East Coast
destinations, and will have
opportunities to increase its
global route structure when its
first A350 arrives in 2017.
The airline is also focusing
on its interisland operations.
In July 2012, Hawaiian announced it would be adding
turboprops to establish a subsidiary airline serving smaller
islands not currently in its
system, including Molokai and
Lanai. The pilots authorized a
turboprop operation in their
2010 contract, which becomes
amendable in 2015.
And just last month, the
MEC tentatively approved
an LOA that could add a
completely new aircraft type:
the B-737 MAX or A320
NEO. If approved, the new
narrowbodies would expand
service to the islands from
smaller mainland markets
that cannot be efficiently
served by widebody airplanes,
and would also allow nonstop
service from the mainland
to smaller island airports
like Maui and Kona to better
compete with rivals flying
similar airplanes.
The expansion has more
than doubled Hawaiian’s
pilot group since 2008.
Many of the new hires have
come from the former Aloha
Airlines, which ceased operations that same year, and
Hawaiian has also become a
“carrier of choice” for pilots
from many other airlines.
“We have an incredibly
diverse, talented group,” notes
Horne. “One of our MEC’s
current goals is to educate
our newer pilots as to how
much work went into achieving the contract we have and
get them more involved with
ALPA.”
AtaGlance
n Headquarters: Honolulu, Hawaii
n Pilot bases: Honolulu and
Seattle, Wash.
n Operations: Hawaiian operates
more than 150 daily flights between
Oahu, Maui, Kauai, and Hawaii.
It offers nonstop service to the
Hawaiian islands from 10 cities on
the U.S. mainland and also has direct,
nonstop flights from Honolulu to
American Samoa, Tahiti, Australia, the
Philippines, South Korea, and Japan.
In 2013 it will be the first U.S. airline
to fly to New Zealand and also plans
to serve China in future years
n Fleet: 18 B-717-200s; 4 B-767300s; 12 B-767-300ERs; and 9
A330-200s, with 3 more to be delivered. Firm orders: 6 A350-300X, to
be delivered 2017–2020. The airline
is also acquiring 2 ATR 42-500s and
wants to purchase as many as 12
B-737 MAXs or A320 NEOs
The
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
The Next
Phase of
Interisland
Travel
By Lydia Jakub
Specialist
T
o further position itself
as the leader in interisland travel by taking
advantage of the rebounding
travel industry in Hawaii and
new business opportunities,
Island Air spent much of
2012 making changes from
the inside out. The company
developed a new business
plan and appointed a new
executive team to implement
the plan, which includes a
new brand image and a new
airplane fleet type.
In February 2012, the company announced its intent to
introduce three ATR 72-212s
into the fleet by the end of
the year and three additional
ATRs in 2013. However, this
was amended in September
2012, and the company now
plans to add a total of five
only Dash 8-100s, so management’s plan to introduce new
aircraft triggered a provision
in the pilot contract to begin
negotiations for appropriate
pay rates. The contract also
states that if an agreement is
not reached by the in-service
date, the issue will be presented to a neutral arbitrator
on an expedited basis, and
the rates, once established,
will be retroactive to the
in-service date.
Since the company announced its plans to refleet
earlier this year, MEC officers
and ALPA negotiators have
been meeting regularly with
management to address
issues arising from the new
equipment and to provide
pilot input on business opportunities that management
Island Air
F/O Jonathan Bernath and Capt. Will Hall with their Dash 8.
ATR 42s. The airline took
delivery of the first in October
2012, and expects several
more through 2013 to replace
the current fleet.
“We welcome the opportunities that these new aircraft
will bring and are excited
to take advantage of the
burgeoning interisland traffic,” says Capt. Monte Vories,
chairman of the pilots’ Master
Executive Council (MEC).
“During the economic downturn, the company went into
survival mode and focused on
its core business. Island Air is
now hiring and acquiring new
aircraft. We are encouraged
by these actions and hope
they are an indication of the
company’s intent to expand
upon our quality operations.”
Island Air currently flies
is considering. They are also
working to secure an agreement with fair compensation
and a reasonable quality of
life that covers all aspects of
flying the new airplanes. This
includes pay rates for the new
airplanes, how sick time and
vacation time will be paid
and administered with the
new rates, training, and other
related items. Unfortunately,
these discussions have not
yet yielded a satisfactory
agreement.
The pilots’ goal is industrystandard wage rates for
similarly sized airplanes. In
addition, they provided management with a comprehensive proposal that included
the resolution of several
pending grievances, a duty
rig, several changes intended
to provide more flexibility to
the company (while improving pilots’ quality of life), and
several changes intended to
provide management with
some scheduling efficiencies
and cost savings.
Meanwhile, the company
proposed current Dash 8
(37-seat) pay rates for the ATR
42, which has 47 seats; a 10
percent increase over current
pay rates for the ATR 72,
which has 66 seats; and other
changes to pilot pay calculations and work rules.
“The company cannot
expect our pilots to be paid
less for flying larger aircraft
and working longer hours,”
Vories says. “We are committed to the success of Island
Air and want it to prosper.
Our proposals have been
reasonable, recognizing the
challenges within the industry
while allowing pilots, management, and other stakeholders
to benefit from the refleeting.
We stand by our goals and
will continue working to
achieve fair compensation
and work rules for our pilots
either through a consensual
agreement with the company
or arbitration.”
It has become clear in
recent months that securing
a mutually acceptable agreement with management will
be challenging. Though not
their preference, the pilots are
fully prepared to move the issue to expedited arbitration if
an agreement is not reached
in the near term.
AtaGlance
n Operations: Approximately 36 daily
flights plus charter service to seven
airports throughout Hawaii
n Service: Island Air is Hawaii’s leading regional airline, serving airports on
all major Hawaiian islands with 331
weekly flights between the islands
of Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Kauai,
and the island of Hawaii
n Fleet: 4 Dash 8-100s
The
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
Pilots Focus
On Building
Relationships,
Working with
Stakeholders
By Jessie Cornelius
Public Relations
Specialist
J
azz pilots are charting
their own course, using
their strategic plan as a
guide to brighten their future
and overcome challenges presented by a volatile industry.
The pilots’ Master Executive
Council (MEC) is committed
to helping the airline become
even more competitive in the
marketplace. The airline and
the pilots have doubled their
efforts to improve stakeholder
relationships and to keep potential new market opportunities in their purview. Although
the pilots were disappointed
when Air Canada—their major customer—announced in
October 2012 that it would be
all stakeholders.”
One of those stakeholders is their company, Jazz
Aviation. The MEC has been
working with management to
continue to improve their relationship. At MEC meetings
last year, Jazz management
gave presentations on issues
ranging from operations to
crew scheduling. The MEC
and management also joined
forces to launch FLiCA, an
innovative tool that gives
pilots the ability to be handson with their schedules and
allows them to swap, add,
and drop trips online. The
improvement was part of the
pilots’ industry-leading collec-
Jazz
Capt. Isabelle Caron and F/O Marie-Clair Beaulieu.
transferring 15 Embraer 175
jets to Sky Regional Airlines
as part of its plans to expand
and diversify, the move has
only strengthened the pilots’
resolve.
“Jazz pilots have demonstrated the ability to be
creative and innovative in
other challenging circumstances,” says Capt. Claude
Buraglia, the pilots’ MEC
chairman. “Our goal is to
convince our customers of
the advantages, flexibility,
and value they have in utilizing Jazz’s full potential. With
regard to safety infrastructure, pilot experience, and
on-time performance, we
have set the standard, and
we will continue to do so. We
are a high-value airline. We
will continue to reach out
and work collaboratively with
tive bargaining agreement.
“We believe in engaging
our members more in the
business at hand,” observes
Capt. Terry McTeer, the MEC
vice chairman. “We’re also
looking to be prudent with
our members’ money and
providing them with the best
bang for their buck.”
Reorganizing committees
so that they are more effective
and revamping communications with the help of ALPA’s
Communications Department
have been a key part of the
MEC’s stewardship. The
MEC provides regular online
communications to keep its
coast-to-coast pilot group—
with bases stretching across
Canada from Vancouver,
B.C., to Halifax, N.S.—well
informed. MEC e-bulletins,
e-newsletters, online ALPA-
produced videos, and triannual
MEC meetings are a core part
of the pilots’ communications
efforts. The MEC members
also conduct meet-and-greet
sessions at pilot bases to have
face-to-face conversations
with their pilots.
At the end of last year, the
MEC was working through
changes resulting from the
end of mandatory retirement
in the federal jurisdiction of
Canada, which became effective Dec. 15, 2012. The pilots
had been planning for these
major changes since last May.
An agenda item for late
2013 will be rejuvenating the
pilots’ Negotiating Committee
for the next collective bargaining round; their collective
bargaining agreement expires
on June 30, 2015. While the
Jazz pilots realize that their
biggest challenge will be for
management to maintain a
fair and equitable agreement
with Air Canada, their goal is
to retain an industry-leading
contract that promotes the
pilots’ quality of life and provides them with job security
at a viable airline.
“The MEC will do everything necessary to advance
the interests of the pilot
group,” notes Buraglia. “I
believe in the Jazz pilots and
that we have a lot of potential. I also believe that sooner
or later, opportunity will cross
paths with that potential.”
AtaGlance
n Operations: Jazz transports approximately 9.1 million passengers
annually on 800 daily flights to 82
destinations across Canada and the
United States.
n Pilot bases: Vancouver, B.C.;
Calgary, Alb.; Toronto, Ont.; Montreal,
Que.; and Halifax, N.S.
n Headquarters: Halifax, N.S.
n Fleet: 127 aircraft, including Bombardier Dash 8-100/300s, Bombardier
CRJ 100/200/705s, and Bombardier
Q400s.
The
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
Pilots Focus
On Upcoming
Negotiations
WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
By John Perkinson
Staff Writer
P
reparing for contract
negotiations is a top
priority for the pilots of
Kelowna Flightcraft Ltd., a
Canadian executive charter
and cargo airline. Talks are
slated for 2014 (the contract
expires October 31), and the
pilot group has already begun
spooling up its communications and contract studies
efforts, as well as grooming its
Negotiating Committee members. The pilot group recently
enlisted it first full-time communications chair, F/O Mireille
Pare, who is bilingual and will
be overseeing the Master Executive Council’s (MEC) e-mail
updates, website, and other
communications tools to keep
the pilots informed.
Keeping Kelowna crewmembers educated and
Kelowna
Flightcraft
A Kelowna Flightcraft B-727.
up-to-date about contract
goals and the MEC activities
will be a challenge, as they are
dispersed over a vast region.
“Our pilots are spread out
over bases from as far east
as Halifax to as far west as
Vancouver and commute from
all corners of the country,”
says F/O Tim Wynn-Williams,
the pilots’ MEC vice chairman.
“We’re not a large group, but
we cover a lot of terrain.”
The Kelowna pilots
are contemplating using
interest-based negotiations
(IBN) for this next round of
bargaining. Wynn-Williams
observes, “Part of IBN is
being able to have some sort
of civilized discourse with our
employer as opposed to being
at loggerheads.”
Fortunately, the MEC,
which includes local
councils in Hamilton, Ont.,
and Vancouver, B.C., has
maintained positive labour
relations with management
in recent years. “We get along
quite well with the company,”
notes Wynn-Williams, who
says that “since 2009 when
we negotiated our latest
agreement, we’ve gotten
better at working together.”
With many pilot schedules
that include late-night and
early-morning hours, the MEC
is interested in adopting a fatigue risk management system
(FRMS) but is waiting to see
what changes the Canadian
government will institute. The
process to update fatigue rules
has been long and arduous.
In the most recent phase,
Transport Canada’s Canadian
Aviation Regulation Advisory
Council (CARAC) Technical
Committee last fall reviewed
recommendations from the
CARAC Flight Crew Fatigue
Management Working
Group. The CARAC Technical
Committee then made these
proposals public, encouraging
feedback from industry stakeholders like ALPA.
The challenge will be to
foster provisions that are
tied to the latest science and
understanding about human
fatigue. The MEC is monitoring this situation closely to
ensure that the final rule
does not contain a cargo
“carveout,” as is the case in
the United States.
With contract talks on the
horizon, the MEC is considering all of its options. “At this
point, we’re watching with
interest to see how other
negotiations are going for our
fellow Canadian pilot groups
like Wasaya,” Wynn-Williams
says. “We want to see what
the playing field is going to
look like.”
Steady contracts with
Purolator Courier and Canada
Post have allowed Kelowna
to maintain its fleet size and
staffing levels. “We’ve been
replacing the people who’ve
left to pursue their careers
elsewhere, but we have not
grown or shrunk in the last
year,” notes Wynn-Williams.
“It’s been status quo.”
The MEC, also led by Capts.
Derek Porter, chairman;
Serge Fortier, secretary; and
Kenneth Morrison, treasurer,
has concentrated much of its
effort on maintaining contract
compliance and promoting a
safe and secure operation. To
help with the former effort,
the pilots instituted a dispute
tracking system to monitor
and act on grievances in a
more timely basis. And the
airline can once again offer
flight deck access to commuting pilots from other Canadian
airlines, a benefit that hasn’t
been available since 9/11.
Kelowna Flightcraft is
Canada’s largest cargo airline.
With its fleet of DC-10s,
B-727s, and Convair 580s,
Kelowna touts its ability to
transport 1,000,000 pounds
of air freight nightly across
the nation. The airline also
has an executive charter
division and forest-fire
patrols. In its other division,
Kelowna is a leading aircraft
maintenance operation and
signed two contracts in 2012
with WestJet to maintain and
update the carrier’s B-737
fleet. Kelowna’s Allied Wings
Operation provides maintenance support to the Royal
Canadian Air Force.
Last year, Kelowna contributed a B-727-100 to Mohawk
College to assist its aviation
program at Munro Hamilton
International Airport.
AtaGlance
n Pilots joined ALPA: 1997 (became
an ALPA-represented pilot group when
CALPA merged with ALPA)
n Headquarters: Kelowna, B.C.
n Pilot bases: Hamilton, Ont.;
Vancouver, B.C.; Halifax, N.S.; Thunder
Bay, Ont.; Regina, Sask.; Calgary, Alb.;
and Kelowna, B.C.
n Fleet: B-727s, Convair 580s, and
DC-10s
The
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
Improvements
For All Pilots
By Lydia Jakub
Specialist
I
n an industry where “everything matters,” the pilots of
Mesa Air Group are leaving
nothing to chance when it
comes to their livelihoods.
They are working vigilantly
to protect and enhance the
careers of all Mesa pilots and
using innovative methods to
fulfill this mission. In 2012,
pilot leaders secured contract
improvements for the entire
pilot group and more than
$325,000 for pilots whose
rights had been violated by
the company’s management.
“We are proud of the work
accomplished by our union
volunteers and pilot group,
especially considering the
state of our company and
Mesa
F/O Jacob Clymo at Chicago
O’Hare International Airport.
the turmoil within the airline
industry,” says F/O Marcin
Kolodziejczyk, chairman of
the pilots’ Master Executive
Council (MEC). “These successes demonstrate our high
commitment to our pilots,
company, and profession.”
Negotiations for an
improved contract began in
March 2010, just days after
the company emerged from
bankruptcy as a stand-alone
airline. Though ALPA successfully protected the pilots’
contract during the bankruptcy process, more than
400 pilots were furloughed,
and hundreds more were
displaced and/or downgraded,
taking pay cuts of as much as
$34,000 per year.
The way in which the
displacements were handled
leading up to and during the
bankruptcy resulted in ALPA
filing four grievances; these
complex cases were mediated
twice and were scheduled to
go to arbitration in mid-2012.
By that time, the pilots
had also reached tentative
agreements during their
negotiating sessions with
management on 11 of the 26
contract sections.
In an unprecedented
decision, the MEC approved
a settlement agreement that
provided payment for pilots
downgraded out of seniority order and gains for all
Mesa pilots. This agreement
included a $200,000 payment
to be divided among those on
the affected pilots list, immediate implementation of
the 11 tentative agreements,
resolving an additional four
grievances, establishing common negotiating protocols,
and opening the company’s
books to ALPA’s Economic
and Financial Analysis
Department experts for review (an important provision,
as Mesa is privately held and
contract negotiations were
beginning to move into the
economic issues).
The tentative agreements,
which became effective in July
2012, were all current book or
better. Improvements include
that (1) pilots must now be
provided a written statement of charges before any
company meeting and (2) an
enhanced commuter policy be
established to help the nearly
80 percent of Mesa pilots who
currently commute by allowing
the policy to now be invoked
twice annually and extending
it to offline/non-code-share
partners. These contractual improvements—while
certainly incremental and
noneconomic—helped the
pilots immediately, rather than
simply delaying implementation indefinitely until a new
contract has been completed.
Since then, negotiating
progress has remained steady.
The parties have reached a
tentative agreement on an
additional section, and all
but two sections have been
opened. As for grievances,
only 21 cases were open as of
early December 2012.
Along with these successes
at the bargaining table and
with the grievance process,
the MEC is working to secure
pilot jobs. Mesa’s current
code shares with United and
US Airways are set to expire
in 2015, as are contracts
with other regional airlines.
Recognizing the devastating
effect a dramatic shift in
flying could have on pilot
careers, the MEC has formed
alliances with other ALPA and
non-ALPA pilot groups flying
in the United Express and
US Airways Express systems.
Through these and other
efforts, they are working to
protect pilot careers and
provide a measure of stability
within the industry.
“The regional airline industry is changing,” concludes
Kolodziejczyk. “While we cannot know what the future may
hold, we will continue to build
upon our successes of 2012
and forge a path for additional
gains in 2013. We are also
prepared to address any challenge or opportunity that may
arise, from a transaction to
a shutdown, and will stop at
nothing to protect and advance our pilots’ interests.”
AtaGlance
800, including 211 on furlough
n Operations: Mesa Air Group
includes go! and Mesa Airlines, and
operates as United Express and US
Airways Express under contractual
agreements and independently as go!
in Hawaii. Serves 96 cities, 37 states,
Canada, and Mexico with 465 daily
departures
n Bases: Charlotte, N.C.; Chicago,
Ill.; Honolulu, Hawaii; Kahului, Hawaii;
Lihue, Hawaii; Phoenix, Ariz.; and
Washington, D.C.
n Headquarters: Phoenix, Ariz.
CRJ200s, CRJ700s, and CRJ900s
The
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
Pilots Stand
Their Ground
In Bankruptcy
Negotiations
North American
By Barbara Gottshalk
Lead Communications
Specialist
N
orth American Airlines
(NAA) pilots are highly
trained to face the
challenges of daily flying into
remote and dangerous locations. Flying to Manas International Airport in Kyrgyzstan
and Kabul, Afghanistan, are
just two examples.
But the challenges they
have faced since parent company Global Aviation Holdings
(GLAH) filed for protection
under Chapter 11 of the U.S.
bankruptcy code in February
2012 and dragged the airline
and sister carrier World
Airways into bankruptcy
concessionary negotiations
have been more problematic.
The year started out on
a positive note, with the
(MEC) preparing for Section
6 negotiations (the pilots’
contract had a December
Capt. Selim Wehber and F/O
Christina Waugh preparing
for an early morning
departure from Leipzig,
Germany, enroute to Atlanta.
2012 amendable date). In late
January, the pilots won an
arbitration relating to a vacation pay grievance.
Two weeks later, the outlook changed. With the news
of the Chapter 11 filing and
subsequent downsizing, the
group learned that 40 pilots
would be furloughed and 14
more downgraded.
The pilot leaders responded
swiftly. Capt. Rob Lewis, the
pilots’ MEC chairman, along
with several other pilot repre
sentatives and ALPA staff
from the Representation
Department and Economic
and Financial Analysis
Department, met with
representatives from GLAH
and NAA in early March to
discuss issues related to the
bankruptcy filing. ALPA’s
general counsel law firm,
Cohen, Weiss & Simon, was
enlisted to represent the
pilots in bankruptcy court. At
the same time, they worked
with ALPA Communications
Department staff to begin
educating the pilot group
about the bankruptcy process.
The NAA-ALPA team
exchanged proposals with
management over the spring
and reached an agreementin-principle (AIP) in mid-June.
Then, the pilot group got
thrown another curveball: the
Teamsters (IBT), which represents the World Airways pilots
and flight attendants and the
NAA flight attendants, petitioned the National Mediation
Board (NMB) seeking a
determination of single-carrier
status for the two airlines.
“Immediately after learning of this, senior ALPA staff
contacted me to discuss the
situation and our plan for
responding,” says Lewis. “They
assigned a team to cover
the NMB process and act to
protect our interests, giving
us the same level of attention
and resources we received to
assist us with our bankruptcy
negotiations, financial analysis, and legal representation.”
By mid-August, the NAAALPA negotiating team had
hammered out a tentative
agreement (TA) under threat
of a Section 1113 filing, but
the pilots rejected it in the
ratification process.
The Negotiating Committee
went back to the bargaining
table right away, with the goal
of achieving a new agreement
that responded to some of the
concerns pilots voiced about
the initial TA. After an intense
bargaining session over a 36hour period, the Negotiating
Committee successfully
negotiated several improve-
ments over the initial failed
TA. On September 24, the
pilots ratified the revised TA,
with 76 percent voting in favor
of the agreement. In addition
to minimizing concessions, the
new contract provides equity,
profit sharing, a seat on the
GLAH Board of Directors, and
other valuable returns.
Under the new deal, the pilots and management agreed
to meet within 90 days to
discuss the implementation
of additional operational savings and revenue-generating
measures, review and resolve
outstanding grievances, and
find and clarify problematic
contract language. “We understand that this is a critical and
fragile time for our company,
and we stand ready to work
closely with our management
to help our company regain
its financial viability and
advance our mutual goals for
the future,” Lewis says. “To
achieve success, however, our
management must fulfill the
commitments it made to our
pilots in this agreement.”
Contract implementation is
under way. In November, the
pilots got the news that the
NMB had denied the IBT’s
single-carrier petition.
“It’s too early to tell whether the company will reorganize
successfully,” Capt. Lee Moak,
ALPA’s president, says. “But it
tells the ALPA story: we never
give up—and we always look
for opportunities when the
going gets tough.”
AtaGlance
n Pilot base: New York (JFK)
n Headquarters: Peachtree City, Ga.
n Operations: Provides air transportation services throughout the world,
operating both charter and scheduled
service for the U.S. military, tour
operators, government agencies, and
sports teams, among others, and as
an ACMI carrier for other scheduled
airlines
n Fleet: 5 B-767-300ERs
The
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
Finding
Common
Ground
Piedmont
By Jen Lofquist
Specialist
F
or the last 12 months,
Piedmont pilots have
revved up activities and
built unity in a pilot group
that has—based on its merger in the recent past—been
disconnected both geographically and demographically.
The challenges for
Piedmont pilots are many.
While they number fewer
than 400, they are spread
across five domiciles in four
states. With scheduling so
tight much of the time, few
pilots are available for events
and meetings. The pilots
also range widely in age and
career expectations. Many are
extremely senior and nearing
retirement. But an increasing
number are younger new
hires just starting their airline
MEC chairman. “We’ve been
careful to listen to our group,
explore options, and find our
commonalities and focus
on them rather than our
differences.”
As negotiations continued
to drag into their third year,
the MEC sent a clear message to management that
the group was unified. The
MEC unanimously agreed
to put a strike authorization resolution before the
members. This resolution
authorized the pilot leaders
to call a legal strike if the
National Mediation Board
concluded that negotiations
had reached an impasse and
released the groups from
mediation, thus triggering a
30-day cooling-off period.
Capt. Russ Denney with the ramp crew for the last Piedmont
flight out of LaGuardia Airport.
careers. In addition, the group
has had significant attrition,
with hiring unable to keep
up with the number of pilots
leaving the company. With
concerted communications
efforts, the Master Executive
Council (MEC) and its committees have reached out to
the pilots, making sure that
every pilot is aware of not
only the status of negotiations, but also how the group
is collectively preparing for
the negotiating endgame.
“We are a very diverse
group, with a wide range
of opinions and—more
importantly—expectations
for this contract,” says Capt.
Bruce Freedman, the pilots’
“Our diversity challenged
us to find new ways to communicate with our pilots,”
Freedman notes. “We simply
couldn’t rely on one method
to reach all of our pilots.
We had to spread the messages across a multitude of
channels, and we used them
all—from Facebook to texting
to flyers in crew room mailboxes. But our most effective
method was just one-on-one
and all-pilot calls.”
The group also held allpilot calls late in the evening
with members of the MEC
and Negotiating Committee
on the line. The pilots came
out in large numbers—especially considering the lack
of availability of most pilots
due to scheduling—to listen.
Those who couldn’t make
it accessed the audio files
afterward. As the vote neared
closing, the MEC was sending
messages via every communications medium. A strong
vote was important, but so
was one that represented a
large majority of the pilot
group.
On August 10, the results
were counted. Almost 93
percent of eligible pilots had
participated, and of those
pilots, 93 percent voted in
favor of the strike authorization resolution. The message
had been sent to management—and negotiations have
been moving forward, albeit
slowly.
In late November, Piedmont pilots and management
had a rare moment of agreement at an arbitration hearing. The two sides opened
their wallets and pooled
their personal resources and
bought Powerball tickets for
the $587 million jackpot.
“Our goal is not, and has
never been, to call a strike,”
says Freedman. “However,
we wanted to be sure that
management knew that
no matter how different
this pilot group may seem
on paper, we have much
more in common. One thing
every Piedmont pilot shares,
whether they’ve been here
30 years or 90 days, is the
desire for a contract that is
fair and equitable. We think
this is not only achievable,
but within reach. We just
have to work together to get
there.”
AtaGlance
n Headquarters: Salisbury, Md.
n Pilot bases: New Bern, N.C.;
Charlottesville, Va.; Roanoke, Va.;
Harrisburg, Pa.; and Salisbury, Md.
n Fleet: 44 DHC-8s
The
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
Strength
In Unity:
Pilots Face
Bankruptcy
By Kimberly Seitz
Specialist
Editor’s note: Details of the
tentative agreement reached
between Pinnacle Airlines
pilots and management on
Dec. 17, 2012, were not public
as of press time.
P
innacle pilots have
endured two years of
turbulence that finally
shows some signs of leveling
off as 2013 begins and the
pilots are poised to vote on
a tentative agreement (TA)
reached in the early morning
hours of Dec. 17, 2012.
“We appreciate the support of all Pinnacle pilots
throughout this grueling, yearlong ordeal,” says Capt. Tom
Wychor, the pilots’ Master
on April 1, 2012, and announced that it would cease
all of its turboprop flying.
Pinnacle pilots spent
most of 2012 putting on a
pragmatic defense of the
industry-leading contract they
ratified in 2011, starting with
battling management’s May
term sheet of $33.2 million in
annual concessions followed
by the showdown over the
increased August demand for
$59.6 million in annual concessions—all while Pinnacle
Airlines was spending millions
of dollars on legal fees and
consultants.
Since early May, the MEC
had been overseeing bankruptcy negotiations and
searching for acceptable solu-
Pinnacle
Capt. Tom Wychor, the Pinnacle MEC chairman, center with back
to camera, talks to pilots at one of many pilot unity building
events conducted in Pinnacle domiciles during 2012.
chairman. “Difficult decisions
were made throughout this
process as our negotiators
crafted an agreement that
preserves a future for our
pilots and the airline.”
The bumpy ride for
Pinnacle pilots begin in 2010,
with the surprise purchase of
Mesaba Airlines by Pinnacle
Airlines, Corp., and the
subsequent successful negotiation of an industry-leading
joint collective bargaining
agreement negotiated in just
100 days. During 2011, the
integrated (Colgan, Mesaba,
and Pinnacle) seniority list
was implemented, and a
single MEC was established.
However, the turbulence
increased dramatically when
Pinnacle Airlines, Corp.,
sought bankruptcy protection
tions to addresses management’s term sheet. Pinnacle
pilots spent four days in
October in U.S. Bankruptcy
Court in Manhattan, N.Y.,
arguing their case in front
of Judge Robert Gerber.
In November, the judge
denied Pinnacle Airlines’
1113 motion to reject the
pilots’ collective bargaining
agreement and spared the
pilots from the immediate
threat of imposed terms and
conditions.
Judge Gerber found that
the airline was not able to
satisfy the following elements necessary under the
bankruptcy code: Pinnacle’s
proposal was not necessary
to the reorganization, specifically Pinnacle overreached
with its demand for $59.6
million in concessions;
Pinnacle’s proposal was not
fair and equitable, finding
that Pinnacle did not offer
enough upside to the pilot
group; and ALPA had good
cause to reject management’s
proposal because Pinnacle
overreached in its demands.
“Judge Gerber’s ruling
allowed us to avoid imposed
terms, but it was not a solution to our problems,” says
Wychor “We knew our only
future as Pinnacle pilots
would come with a consensual deal that addresses
Pinnacle’s significant financial
hurdles while also recognizing
our pilots’ needs.
“All along, we were willing
to find a resolution to the
problems that exist within the
organization,” Wychor observes. “Our negotiators and
ALPA staff were always more
than prepared to discuss
alternatives designed to solve
the company’s liquidity crisis
and provide a viable future
for our pilots. This agreement
meets both goals.
“This pilot group spent the
year focused on getting this
deal,” says Wychor, “and if
ratified, 2013 will see the start
a new chapter for this airline.
Without the tremendous
support of ALPA, we would
have been unable to navigate
a successful conclusion to the
Pinnacle story.”
AtaGlance
n Pilots joined ALPA: 1988 (as
Express Airlines I before it changed its
name to Pinnacle in 2002); purchased
Colgan Air in 2007 and Mesaba
Airlines in 2010
n Operations: More than 800
daily flights for Delta Air Lines to
110 airports across the United States
and Canada
n Pilot domiciles: Atlanta, Ga.;
Detroit, Mich.; Memphis, Tenn.;
Minneapolis, Minn.; New York’s JFK;
Boston, Mass.; and Newark, N.J.
n Headquarters: Memphis, Tenn.
n Fleet: 141 Canadair CRJ200s and
55 CRJ900s
The
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
Pilots Prove
Their Value
PSA
By Barbara Gottshalk
Lead Communications
Specialist
O
‘‘
ur day has value” was
the strong message
PSA pilots conveyed
to management as they
marked the third anniversary of the start of contract
negotiations in June. With
contract talks down to the
major economic items, the
pilot group wanted to signal
to management their unified
position: now is the time to
reach a deal that rewards PSA
pilots for the valuable service
they provide to their airline
and their passengers.
“Securing a fair, improved
contract now not only would
recognize the important role
our pilots play in PSA’s operations, but it also would provide
the necessary stability for PSA
to succeed in this dynamic
environment,” says Capt. Jesse
Coeling, the pilots’ Master
chairman who took office in
January 2012.
Throughout the summer
and fall, the pilot group kept
the pressure on management
on parallel fronts. At the bargaining table, the Negotiating
Committee stood firm even
as management employed
stalling tactics and made little
movement, especially in the
key economic areas.
Meanwhile, the MEC
launched a determined
communications drive that included pilots displaying their
support for the Negotiating
Committee with stickers,
badge backers, and bag tags;
taking their message to the
news media; and pilot unity
building events.
This high level of engagement was a key MEC objective as it began charting the
pilot group’s course for the
future. Led by Coeling, the
MEC focused on revitalizing
the PSA committee structure
and expanding its communications program.
To that end, the MEC
developed an MEC policy
manual that defines the roles
and responsibilities of each
committee. The MEC also
provided the committees
with ALPA’s full support
and resources through
various volunteer training
programs and participation in
Association activities and on
ALPA committees.
In May, MEC officers, the
Negotiating Committee chairman, and ALPA staff from the
and Communications
Department began the strategic planning process. “We
adopted a strategic approach
that centered on building a
robust cadre of well-trained
pilot volunteers, tapping into
the expertise and experience
of ALPA’s professional staff,
and engaging the pilots in
union activities,” Coeling says.
Capt. Mark Hinczynski, MEC
secretary-treasurer, left, on an
initial operating experience
trip with Capt. Chad Frey.
This approach is paying
off. The PSA Contract Enforcement Committee and Griev
ance Review Subcommittee
have resolved a number of
grievances, often achieving
positive results. The Hotel
Committee’s collaboration
with management, TLX
(which administers layover
hotels), and the flight attendants has led to improvements in layover hotels, the
hotel selection process, and
contractual compliance. The
Pilot Assistance Committee,
together with ALPA’s Critical
Incident Response Program
(CIRP) chair, is working with
management representatives
to enhance CIRP at PSA, and
the Scheduling Committee
launched an online survey
to get pilot input for making
improvements to future
schedules.
Additionally, the pilots
responded in force when
Coeling called on them to
send a collective message
to management to reverse
its decision to opt out of
the Known Crewmember®
(KCM) program. As a result,
management agreed to
continue to participate in
the program. On October 30,
PSA pilot leaders were on
hand at Charlotte Douglas
International Airport for the
launch of KCM there.
The pilots’ main goal
continues to be securing a
contract that recognizes their
importance to the airline’s
operations and helps PSA
maintain its competitiveness
in the US Airways system. In
September, the pilot group received a $1 million grant from
ALPA’s Major Contingency
Fund. The newly formed
Strategic Preparedness and
Strike Committee and the
Communications Committee
are mobilizing to help pilots
prepare for the negotiations
endgame.
The messages that the
pilot group has been sending
to management have been
getting through. At their bargaining session in November,
management negotiators
finally made a proposal that
moved the parties closer to
reaching their goal of a consensual contract.
AtaGlance
500
n Operations: PSA is a wholly owned
subsidiary of US Airways Group. It
operates 327 flights per day as US
Airways Express, serving 65 airports
in the U.S.
n Bases: Charlotte, N.C., Dayton,
Ohio; and Knoxville, Tenn.
n Headquarters: Dayton, Ohio
n Fleet: 35 CRJ200s and 14 CRJ700s
The
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
The Future
Remains
Uncertain
By John Perkinson
Staff Writer
I
t’s been a rough ride for the
pilots of Ryan International.
Poor decision-making by
former management led to
drastic capacity cuts and a
bankruptcy filing in March
2012. Consequently, the airline has experienced sizeable
fleet and personnel reductions, compelling the Ryan
pilot group to work with the
new corporate leaders to find
solutions to keep their operation running.
“We’ve been walking a
tightrope between enforcing
the contract and allowing
management some relief to
keep the airline in business,”
says Capt. Erik Sparks, the
Council (MEC) chairman.
Section 6 contract negotia-
service until April.
The costs associated with
these government dictates
were too much for Ryan,
which is owned by a real
estate holding company with
limited airline experience.
In February, the carrier announced it would park two
of its B-767s and immediately furlough pilots based
on aircraft type rather than
seniority number.
“A week after the company’s ill-advised announcement, we negotiated a deal
to bring those pilots back.
We cut our guarantee and
days worked for everyone
flying the B-767 by 25 percent,” Sparks says. “We later
learned that, days before the
illegal furlough, management
Ryan
A Ryan International B-767-300ER glistens after
a thunderstorm passes in Kansas City.
tions began in fall 2011 but
quickly turned into bargaining
for a series of letters of agreement as management sought
short-term solutions to ease
its fiscal crisis. By August,
ALPA suspended bargaining
altogether so that pilots and
management could focus
solely on saving the company.
The problems began when
Ryan received notice from the
U.S. Department of Defense
(DOD) in mid-2010 that its
military passenger lift would
be reduced and larger aircraft
would be required to retain
its DOD contract.
Management scrambled
to find a large widebody to
meet the DOD’s demands
but lost precious time
seeking used B-777s before
ultimately leasing an Airbus
A330-300 from Virgin
Atlantic. Even then, the
DOD delayed approving the
Airbus for military use until
February 2012, and Ryan
wasn’t able to put it into
personnel had awarded themselves bonuses.”
The airline filed for Chapter
11 bankruptcy on March
6, citing a “precarious cash
flow crisis” from decreased
military contract revenues. A
month later, Ryan lost a key
U.S. Department of Justice
contract and immediately
grounded its four MD-80s,
which it had used for prisoner transport. By August, the
airline would return the leased
A330-300 it had spent so
much time acquiring to Virgin
Atlantic, replacing it with an
A330-200 previously flown by
Atlas Jet, a Turkish airline.
Meanwhile, creditors applied pressure to limit the
role of Ryan’s owners and to
change senior management.
Jeff Potter, former president
and CEO of Frontier Airlines,
was hired as “chief restructuring officer” and immediately
took positive steps to stabilize
operations. The pilots have
welcomed the addition of
Potter, but they remain frustrated that more action has
not been taken to restructure
management.
Although Ryan pilots have
done their part to save their
airline, losses have continued
to mount, and management
has furloughed more and
more pilots. Since 2011, the
active pilot group has shrunk
to approximately a quarter of
its former size, and Ryan has
lost seven of its airplanes.
“We’re a resilient group
and have been through tough
times before,” notes Sparks.
“We’re still working hard for
our pilots, even though the
majority of our committee
volunteers and MEC members have been furloughed.”
While Ryan’s future remains
uncertain, the fact that the
airline continues to operate is
due in large part to its dauntless pilots and their spirit of
cooperation and sacrifice.
Ryan Aviation Corporation
began as a fixed-base operator in 1976, providing fueling
and maintenance services in
Wichita, Kan. Changing its
name to Ryan International
Airlines, the organization
hired pilots and started
transporting freight. By 1984,
Ryan began flying passengers
on a charter basis. The
airline ceased cargo operations in 2004 and moved its
headquarters to its current
location in Rockford, Ill., in
2006 after its purchase by
the Rubloff Development
Group.
AtaGlance
n Number of pilots: 211 (including
furloughees)
n Pilot domicile: Rockford, Ill.
n Operations: Ryan International
Airlines (not to be confused with
Ireland-based Ryanair) provides
scheduled and charter services for
customers around the globe
n Fleet: 1 A330-200 and 2
B-767-300ERs
The
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
Growing in
Numbers and
Strength
By Jen Lofquist
Specialist
W
ith their contract
not amendable
until 2015, the Spirit
pilots have been focusing
their attention on contract
enforcement, sending a clear
message to management
that they will not tolerate its
disregard for their collective
bargaining agreement.
“For a new contract, and
one that very clearly spelled
out terms, we are dealing
with an enormous number of
failures of this management
to abide by the very contract
it signed,” says Capt. Chris
Amongero, the pilots’ Master
chairman. “We should still be
in the honeymoon phase of
a new agreement. Instead, it
appears we took our entire
Spirit
Spirit’s fleet includes 27 A319s,
16 A320s, and 2 A321s.
list of arbitrators on the honeymoon with us.”
As an example, though
the contract clearly spells
out the procedure for junior
manning—calling up pilots
to pick up additional flying—management abused
the policy almost as soon
as the ink was dry on the
hard-won collective bargaining agreement, which came
after a five-day strike in 2010.
In April 2012, an arbitrator
found that management
had violated the contractual
limits on junior manning, and
he required the company to
“cease and desist.” However,
management ignored the
finding and continued to use
junior manning to shore up
scheduling. In September, the
same arbitrator found that
management had disobeyed
his award, with hearings
continuing in an effort to find
a remedy.
“The nature of the disagreement is pretty simple,”
continues Amongero. “We
want all our pilots to have
an equal opportunity to pick
up open-time flying at a
set premium. Management
executives, however, seem
to wish to bestow open-time
flying, and the accompanying
premium pay, to only certain
pilots using a system known
only to them.”
Junior manning is only one
example of management’s
disregard for a contract that
extends through the summer
2015. The pilot group, and its
leaders, spend an inordinate
amount of time filing grievances, attending arbitrations,
and settling arguments over
contract language that leaves
no doubt of intention or
process.
Using ALPA’s Represen
tation Department, Spirit
pilots have responded by
filing grievances and refusing to roll over when their
hard-won contract is violated.
Also, thanks to an innovative,
expedited dispute resolution process included in the
contract, these grievances are
being settled quickly. But no
matter how quickly one grievance is resolved, another one
pops up.
“We are winning the vast
majority of these arbitrations,
which you would think would
cause management to think
twice about ignoring the
contract,” Amongero observes.
“But this simply isn’t the
case. No matter how clear
and precise the contract is,
management just does what it
wants until an arbitrator says
it can’t. Sometimes, as in the
case of junior manning, management continues to violate
the agreement even after an
arbitrator has said it can’t.”
Adding to the struggles
are the company’s nearrecord growth and profits.
Spirit currently encompasses
just 1 percent of the market
share in the United States,
but it has announced a goal
of tripling that over the next
few years. Bolstered by a
profit margin of nearly 9 percent, in an industry where
the norm is just .02 percent,
the company is adding new
routes and, most notably for
pilots, hiring. Currently, it’s
adding more than a dozen
pilots each month. This has
put an additional strain on
the pilot group, as it seeks
to encourage growth but not
allow management to unfairly take advantage of the
airline’s growing pains.
The pilot group has also
become more geographically
diverse, with a new base in
Las Vegas, Nev., that opened
in February and a new
domicile in Dallas, Tex. The
company is also adding new
airplanes, planning to nearly
double its fleet by 2015.
“With the number of new
faces on the property, we also
have new challenges,” says
Amongero. “Those of us who
were here during the strike
need to make sure that pilots
coming onto the property
understand the situation at
Spirit. We’ve seen a lot of
the newer pilots, especially
those who came from other
ALPA pilot groups, step up to
take leadership roles. It’s this
sort of commitment that will
protect our contract—now
and as Spirit continues to
grow.”
AtaGlance
n Headquarters: Miramar, Fla.
n Pilot bases: Atlantic City, N.J.;
Detroit, Mich.; Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.;
and Las Vegas, Nev.
n Fleet: 27 A319s, 16 A320s, and 2
A321s
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
Parity Is a
Priority
Sun Country
By Rusty Ayers
Specialist
A
s contract talks enter
the three-year mark
at Minneapolis-based
Sun Country Airlines, the Master Executive Council (MEC)
has condensed its negotiating
goals into two simple words:
parity, period.
With the airline consistently making a profit
over the last several years,
expanding operations, and
finding new business after
almost going out of business
four years ago, pilot leaders
believe it should no longer
be necessary for employees
to provide financial support
by continuing to work for
subpar wages. “Now that
the airline is doing well, we
think it’s time that we were
brought into parity with our
peers,” says Capt. Dennis
Vanatta, the pilots’ MEC
chairman. “Unfortunately,
it’s taking us far too long to
get management to agree
with us.”
Almost two years out of
bankruptcy and a year into
its relationship with a new
owner, Sun Country’s pilots
still languish near the bottom
of the narrowbody pay scale,
a situation the group’s leaders
are working hard to change.
The two sides are still far
apart on a number of issues,
but most especially pilot
pay. When the pilots and
management exchanged pay
proposals in mid-September
2012, the company proposed
a five-year agreement with a
2 percent signing bonus and a
one-time 2 percent raise that
is conditioned on events over
which the pilots have no control. The pilots are currently
paid about 20 percent less
than pilots at other airlines
flying comparable equipment.
In addition to face-toface negotiations, the pilot
group spent 2012 building
its volunteer organization. It
created Family Awareness,
Pilot-to-Pilot, and Strategic
Preparedness Committees
and has sponsored several
high-profile events to educate
and unify the group.
The MEC’s first-ever
informational picketing event,
held at MSP on September
19, was a huge success,
generating strong news media
coverage as more than 100
of the airline’s 184 pilots
participated.
“We’ve proven we can
perform any kind of flying the
company gives us, and with a
high level of professionalism,”
Vanatta says. “We have just
begun work with a federal
mediator, and we hope he
will be able to jump-start our
talks so that we can reach
agreement on a new contract
early in 2013.”
Originally built in the
early 1980s with a single
flights. It currently flies U.S.
service members to and from
Kuwait.
The pilots and Sun Country
entered negotiations in 2010
while the airline was still in
bankruptcy. In 2011 Cambria
Holdings, a Minnesota-based,
privately held family company
with no labor experience
that’s better known for making countertops, bought the
airline for $34 million.
The airline has been profitable since 2010. But the Davis
family, which owns Cambria,
has been unwilling to make
any further investment in the
business, saying any growth
in the company—including
employee salaries—must
come from the company’s
own earnings.
“We recognize Cambria’s
A Sun Country B-737-800.
WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
The
airplane flown by furloughed
Braniff Airlines employees,
Sun Country developed a
comfortable niche market as
a vacation airline to Florida,
Mexico, and the Caribbean.
After two bankruptcies in
the past decade, the airline is
reinventing itself once again
as a small-scale network
airline with big ambitions.
The airline is slowly adding pilots and new aircraft
to its fleet of B-737NGs and
is building its network of
year-round service to business
destinations. It added new
service to Costa Rica in 2012
and continues to fly from MSP
to London’s Gatwick Airport in
the summer months.
And after winning ETOPS
certification and becoming a member of the UPS
Contractor Team for the U.S.
Transportation Command,
in 2011 Sun Country began
operating military charter
view, but it needs to understand ours: we believe profits
are what’s left over after you
have paid your employees
a fair and reasonable wage,
not instead of paying your
employees,” Vanatta says.
AtaGlance
n Founded: 1982
n Pilot base: Minneapolis–St. Paul,
Minn.
n Operations: Based in Mendota
Heights, Minn., Sun Country flies
scheduled service to 32 destinations,
11 of which are served year-round.
The airline also operates charter
flights to numerous locations in the
continental United States, Hawaii,
Alaska, Mexico, the Caribbean, and
the United Kingdom. The airline is also
actively seeking military charter flying
and is a member of the Department of
Defense’s Civil Reserve Air Fleet
n Fleet: 15 B-737NGs, with 3 more
planned for 2013 and more aircraft
leased seasonally
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
Cruise
Control Set at
Trans States
Trans States
By Kimberly Seitz
Specialist
A
fter working under
their new contract
for just more than a
year, the Trans States pilots
are finally in a position in
which their Master Executive
Council (MEC), and newly appointed MEC chairman, can
focus their energy on enforcing their hard-won contract.
“After more than five years
of negotiations, it’s important
that we ensure that management adheres to the items it
agreed to and that the pilots
get the full benefit of their
sacrifices and the Negotiating
Committee’s hard work
during our last contract
negotiations,” says Capt.
Cliff Simmons, the former
Negotiating Committee
chairman who was elected to
amid furloughs and a further
anticipated fleet reduction.
However, things turned
around by springtime. “The
company reworked the
aircraft leases and code-share
agreements to maintain
our current fleet size at
22,” Simmons says, “and all
furloughed pilots are now
back.” Trans States, which flies
regional jets for United and
US Airways, continues to hire
10 pilots per month and plans
to hire into 2013 to meet
the demands of attrition and
the company’s need to reach
its desired staffing levels.
Additionally, all pilots who
were downgraded as a result
of the furloughs should be
back in the captain’s seat as
this issue goes to press.
lished a joint committee to
look at various vendors. “Our
plan is to run tests as soon
as possible so that the pilots
can decide if PBS is right
for them. We’ll also need to
negotiate a separate LOA to
integrate PBS with the terms
of our current agreement,”
Simmons adds.
The pilots also continue to
participate in the US Airways
Express Pilots Alliance
(USEPA), a collaboration of
ALPA-represented US Airways
Express pilot groups. “USEPA
continues to provide invaluable networking opportunities
among regional airlines at our
level,” says Simmons. “With
a focus on safety, training,
and job security, the alliance
members work together to
One of Trans States’ 22 EMB-145s.
serve as the MEC chairman in
September 2012.
Simmons notes that the
operations director at Trans
States has made it a goal to
have a more open and continuous dialogue between the
ops team and the pilot group.
“We hold planned labor relations meetings,” Simmons
says, “and have so far been
successful at quickly dealing
with important issues and,
in some instances, avoiding
grievances.”
While the union and the
company do not always agree,
Simmons says that management is “working in a positive
direction” to effectively and
efficiently rectify concerns.
“Good labor relations and
contract enforcement go a
long way in attracting and
retaining qualified pilots,” he
notes.
The pilots started 2012
The pilots and the airline
reached a major milestone
in 2012 with the implementation of an Advanced
Qualification Program (AQP)
training initiative launched in
October. A leading objective
of AQP is to provide effective
training that will enhance
professional qualifications
to a level above the present
standards.
The pilot group’s next
challenge is deciding how
to test and implement a
preferential bidding system
(PBS). Historically, PBS adds
value to both parties in
staffing, efficiencies, and cost
savings. The contract contains
a provision for the parties
to evaluate whether a PBS
is beneficial for use at Trans
States. The company and the
pilots signed a protocol letter
of agreement (LOA) at the
end of the year that estab-
ensure that our energy is used
to support each other during
negotiations.”
Simmons explains that
information exchanged at
USEPA meetings helped his
pilot group craft a Flight
Operations and Quality
Assurance (FOQA) LOA in
2011 and that he continues
to collaborate with alliance
pilot groups that are in
negotiations.
AtaGlance
n Signed first ALPA contract: 1994
n Operations: More than 150 daily
flights to 39 cities, serving more than
2.1 million passengers annually
while flying as United Express and
US Airways Express
n Pilot domiciles: St. Louis, Mo., and
Washington Dulles, Va.
n Headquarters: St. Louis, Mo.
n Fleet: 22 EMB-145s
WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
The
The
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
Pilots Stand
At Threshold
Of a New Day
United
By C. David Kelly
Specialist
T
he pilots of United
Airlines, at last, stand at
the threshold of a new
beginning; a day they have
been working toward since
the horrific events of Sept. 11,
2001. The recent ratification of
the joint collective bargaining
agreement (JCBA) by the pilots
of United and Continental
represents a giant step toward
the dawning of that new day.
Much work remains before
United and Continental pilots
can combine to become
12,000 strong. Now the integration of the seniority list
must be completed, a process
that is expected to take several months. But the ratification
of the JCBA cleared a huge
hurdle toward bringing these
two pilot groups together.
“It really has been a trying
and challenging time for the
pilots of United,” says Capt.
Jay Heppner, the United pilots’ Master Executive Council
(MEC) chairman. “One would
be hard-pressed to find a
pilot group throughout the
history of the airline industry
that has weathered such a
sustained series of threats to
our jobs and the profession.
Arduous schedules, the economic realities of corporate
America, and a company
mindset that seemed intent
on pitting management
against labor at every turn
are just a few of the realities
that have consumed much of
our energy these past several
years.
“Through all the challenges
and threats to our careers,
however, we have continued
to stand tall together. Our
collective determination led
us toward a JCBA that will
usher in a new era for 12,000
United Airlines pilots and will
help us to put the dark days
of working under bankruptcyera contracts behind us. As
United pilots, it would be
impossible to reflect on what
has transpired in our lives
since Sept. 11, 2001, and not
be proud of how we, together,
have met each and every
challenge with professionalism and courage. We have
honored our profession and
continue to set the standard
for airline excellence.”
With the combination of
two pilot groups, there are
bound to be unique challenges. As in any merger,
there will be growing pains.
But there also will be unique
opportunities.
“Bringing 12,000 pilots
together, getting the 1,436
furloughed United pilots back
on the property, and working
shoulder-to-shoulder toward
a common goal will unlock
great opportunities,” Heppner
says. “There is power in
numbers. And United
management will be dealing
in the areas of safety and
training. He calls on United
management to, once again,
welcome ALPA’s presence
at the table and listen to
the pilots’ expertise in these
arenas. He calls on management to step up and make a
positive change to United’s
corporate culture.
“United Airlines is
presented another chance
to usher in a new start in
management-labor relations,”
notes Heppner. “Management
shouldn’t squander this one.
We stand ready to work as
equal stakeholders in building
the new United. Management
must stop viewing pilots as
adversaries and recognize us
as essential and respected
partners in this airline. Once
that occurs, our passengers
United operates a mix of A319s, A320s, B-747s, B-757s,
B-767s, and B-777s.
with a group that is not only
unified but also determined
to be respected as a vital part
of the world’s largest airline.
United management should
not make the mistake of assuming that the differences in
cultures and histories of the
two pilot groups will enable
it to approach us as separate
entities. This group will move
forward together with one
common goal: to represent
the interests of 12,000 United
pilots and tirelessly defend
our careers.”
Heppner hopes that
management will recognize
the talents and contributions
of this pilot group, especially
and shareholders will finally
be able to reap the full synergies that were promised
by management when it
announced the UnitedContinental merger.”
AtaGlance
7,500 (1,436 on furlough)
n Headquarters: Chicago, Ill.
n Pilot domiciles: Washington
Dulles, Va.; Chicago, Ill.; Seattle,
Wash.; Denver, Colo.; San Francisco,
Calif.; New York (JFK), and Los
Angeles, Calif.
n Fleet: A319s, A320s, B-747s,
B-757s, B-767s, and B-777s
The
Pilots
ALPA
2013
of
Closer to a
Contract
By Jen Lofquist
Specialist
A
s the Wasaya pilots
enter their fifth year
as ALPA members, the
pilot group that came into the
union with no contract and
few protections has grown not
only in number but also in
what it would like to achieve
in its next contract. As it
continues working toward its
second collective bargaining
agreement, the pilot group
has changed tactics and
bargaining methods. Unlike
the nearly three years it took
the pilots to achieve their
first ALPA contract in 2010,
negotiations are now interestbased rather than under the
traditional proposal-based
bargaining model.
In interest-based negotiations (IBN), the two sides
share their ideas for solving
more cooperative labourmanagement relationship.
“Both sides are more collegial
and committed to a common
goal—a contract that is fair to
both pilots and management,”
says Harding.
With negotiating sessions
planned through March 2013,
the group is well on its way
to a second agreement that
is more mature than the first,
which is reflective of a more
established pilot group.
Not too long ago, the pilot
group had significant, if not
staggering, turnover rates.
Many junior pilots viewed
Wasaya as a stepping-stone for
building flight time and then
leaving for larger airlines and
bigger paychecks. However,
with a new contract improving
upon the pilots’ achievements,
Wasaya
A Hawker Siddeley HS748 prepares for loading.
the specific issue on the
table and then move toward
a collaborative solution,
rather than spending time
formulating written proposals
that can “anchor” a party’s
thinking. “Even though we
are still in the early bargaining stages,” comments F/O
James Harding, the pilots’
(MEC) chairman, “we’ve
made substantial progress.
We’re further along since just
September 2012 than we
were in our second year of
our prior negotiations.” A byproduct of the interest-based
negotiating approach is that
it assists in fostering a better,
they are reconsidering their
career paths. “The quality-oflife improvements in the first
contract and a better relationship with management helped
transform Wasaya into a place
where a pilot could work,
support a family, and eventually retire. A new contract will
continue this trend—and
build a group of pilots committed to the long-term success of
Wasaya,” Harding says.
Wasaya’s primary business remains serving the 25
First Nation communities of
Ontario and Manitoba—communities often inaccessible
by any method of transportation other than air. These
communities rely on the
airline to transport not just
passengers, but also fuel,
food, and medicine. Given the
vital necessity of these flights,
and the pilots who fly them,
in 2010 the union and management experts determined
that Wasaya constituted an
“essential services” provider
under Canadian law. Stopping,
reducing, or even delaying
these services could risk the
safety and well-being of the
northern residents.
The essential services
designation is more than
just a sign of Wasaya’s
importance; it also prevents
the disruption of services that
a strike or a lockout could
cause, according to the
Canada Labour Code. This left
the door open for alternative
negotiating styles, including
interest-based, when the two
sides began negotiations.
“We strongly believe that
management shares our
commitment to strengthening and growing this airline,”
Harding says. “This commitment can only be assisted by
pilots who plan to stay at the
airline long-term, and thus
achieve solutions, not just
patches to problems, until
they leave. By putting in place
an improved pilot contract
that makes Wasaya an attractive, long-term employer, we
are building an airline that
offers greater opportunities
for the people on both sides
of the table.”
AtaGlance
n Hub: Thunder Bay, Ont.
n Pilot domiciles: Thunder Bay, Ont.;
Pickle Lake, Ont.; Sioux Lookout, Ont.;
Timmins, Ont.; and Red Lake, Ont.
n Operations: Thunder Bay, Ont.;
Pickle Lake, Ont.; Sioux Lookout, Ont.;
Timmins, Ont.; and Red Lake, Ont.
Beech 1900Ds, Cessna C-208Bs,
Hawker Siddeley HS748s, Pilatus
PC-12s, and Dash 8s
Support Yourself!
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screen flight crewmembers.
This is restricted to pilots in uniform, presenting an airline and a
government-issued photo ID, and employed by the following airlines:
Am. Eagle
Horizon
United
American
Alaska
Delta
Continental
Southwest
Mesa
USAirways
Thank you for participating.
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ALPAToolbox
Training Seminar Snapshots
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By John Perkinson
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HealthWatch
Hearing Loss:
What Did He Say?
Editor’s note: This column is
adapted from an article available at www.AviationMedicine.
com.
L
ike the general public,
many pilots are affected
by hearing loss, which
has many causes. Some
causes can be treated, but
many are permanent and/
or progressive. Fortunately
for pilots, the FAA has liberal
hearing standards
for all classes of
airman medical certification.
Pilots not meeting
standards usuFor more information
ally can obtain
on aeromedical issues,
a statement of
scan the QR code.
demonstrated ability (SODA)
relatively easily if they function well in the aviation environment.
The most common cause
of occupational hearing
loss is repeated exposure
to noise. More than 10
million Americans have
noise-induced hearing loss
(NIHL), and twice that many
work in a hazardous noise
environment.
The Occupational Health
and Safety Administration
defines hazardous noise on a
time-weighted scale. Chronic
exposure to noise louder than
85 decibels for eight hours
per day increases the risk of
hearing loss. Louder exposures
for shorter periods may have
the same effect. Even a single
exposure to very loud noise
may cause permanent effects.
Most pilots are exposed to
loud noises even if they fly an
aircraft with a very quiet interior. Preflighting aircraft on
the ramp or sitting in aircraft
with a cabin door open may
cause exposure to hazardous
noise. Most airline pilots have
logged many hours in lighter
aircraft without significant
noise protection. Many aviators’ off-duty activities (e.g.,
mowing the lawn, boating,
Temporal muscle
good passive noise reduction.
For smaller aircraft with less
noise shielding in the cockpit,
active noise reduction (ANR)
headsets may offer a greater
degree of protection than
conventional passive headsets.
Noise-induced
hearing loss
The ear is a very efficient
amplification system. Its
a man watching TV not
being able to hear his wife
speak behind him. In a quiet
environment, many people
with hearing loss may hear a
background noise or hissing
(like listening to a seashell
or soft static) called tinnitus.
These changes frequently
are permanent and may be
progressive if hearing is not
protected.
Temporal bone
Malleus
Scapha
Triangular fossa
External acoustic
meatus
(Ear canal)
Semicircular canals
Incus
Cochlea
Stapes
Vestibular nerve
Antihelix
Cochlear
nerve
Concha
Cartilage
Auricular lobule
(Earlobe)
or using power tools) expose
them to noise. As a general
rule of thumb, if you must
raise your voice to talk at six
feet, you are in a hazardous
noise environment.
Foam earplugs and earmuffs that fit well are very effective in reducing noise. Used
together, they offer increased
protection. Pilots may preserve
their hearing by using protective devices when on the
ramp or any time they have to
raise their voices to
communicate. Many
headsets
used in
cockpits
offer
Tympanic Tympanic
membrane cavity
(Eardrum)
efficiency is measured by
several tests, the most common being the audiogram,
measuring the hearing
threshold in decibels (dB) at
different frequencies measured in hertz (Hz).
In NIHL, microscopic hair
cells in the cochlea of the
ear begin to lose function.
The first frequencies to drop
off are near 4,000 Hz. Next,
3,000 Hz and 6,000 Hz are
affected. This change is very
subtle. It may manifest as
decreased discrimination (the
ability to understand spoken
words clearly), particularly in
a noisy environment.
Classic examples include
Eustachian
tube
Fortunately for pilots, as
their noise exposure increases
with hours of flight time, they
become more familiar with
radio communications and
subtle aircraft sounds. Their
hearing may not be as acute
as that of younger pilots, but
their knowledge of expected
standard radio transmissions
allows them to function very
well in the cockpit. This is one
basis for a SODA for those
with marked hearing loss.
Otosclerosis
Another cause of hearing
loss is otosclerosis, a stiffening of the eardrum (tympanic
membrane) and the three
© peterjunaidy—Fotolia.com
By Dr. Quay Snyder
ALPA Aeromedical Advisor
HealthWatch
tiny bones responsible for
amplifying sound pressure waves—the hammer,
the anvil, and the stirrup.
Otosclerosis usually occurs
as a person ages and may
have a genetic component.
Hearing aids may improve
hearing in both otosclerosis
and NIHL.
Hearing aids in pilots
A pilot may take an FAA
physical exam while wearing
and using a hearing aid. If
the pilot does so, his or her
medical certificate usually will
bear the restriction “Must use
hearing amplification.” While
flying with this restriction,
the pilot has the option of
using a hearing aid, a headset,
an earpiece, or an overhead
speaker.
Colds, ear blocks,
and hearing
Colds and ear blocks decrease
the eardrum’s ability to move
fully in response to sound
pressure waves. This temporarily reduces hearing, which
should return to normal when
the condition improves.
Decongestants improve
hearing, but be cautious
of trying to fly with decongestants to clear the ears.
Although this practice may
allow a pilot to take off safely,
he or she may encounter
problems as ambient pressure
increases during descent.
The risk is an ear block,
with possible vertigo or a ruptured eardrum. Both are very
unpleasant and potentially
compromise flight safety.
Consider keeping a bottle of
Afrin or Neo-Synephrine nasal
spray with you during flight as
an emergency “get me down”
treatment, but never fly if you
need the medication to clear
your ears before flight.
Other causes of
hearing loss
Less common causes of
hearing loss may be more
profound in one ear and may
indicate the need for thorough medical evaluation. Two
of these conditions have serious implications for a pilot’s
airman medical certificate,
but evaluation should not be
delayed for fear of losing your
airman medical certification.
Acoustic neuroma
The first condition is an
acoustic neuroma, a tumor of
the eighth cranial nerve, which
provides hearing and balance
inputs to the brain from
each ear. This type of tumor
is usually slow-growing but
must be removed. It is usually
detected by a CT or MRI scan.
Surgery is usually curative,
although hearing may be
permanently affected and
balance temporarily affected,
depending on the amount of
nerve preserved by the surgery.
Again, FAA hearing standards allow using both ears,
not just each ear individually,
to pass the hearing test. A
pilot could be completely
deaf in one ear and still meet
FAA standards for all classes
of medical certification. This
may present problems in the
cockpit, however, when using
an earpiece in one ear for
radio communications and
spoken voice for crew cockpit
communications.
Meniere’s syndrome
The other serious cause
of hearing loss in aviators
is Meniere’s syndrome
(endolymphatic hydrops).
Symptoms include sudden,
unilateral hearing loss, roaring
tinnitus, and episodic vertigo,
but not all three symptoms
are required for the diagnosis.
The sudden, unpredictable
vertigo associated with this
syndrome presents a safety
risk to a pilot. The condition is
disqualifying for all classes of
certification.
Some treatments may
allow recertification after the
condition is resolved. One
treatment involves restricting
salt intake and using diuretics
(fluid pills), as one theory
about the cause involves
excess fluid in the inner ear.
Another treatment is surgical
construction of a shunt to
require hearing the spoken
voice at six feet while using
both ears with the pilot’s
back turned to the examiner.
Previously the standard was
the whispered voice using
each ear alone in turn at 20
feet, six feet, and three feet
for first-, second-, and thirdclass certification, respectively. For those who cannot
pass this test, two other tests
are authorized. The second
test administered is audiometry (hearing pure tones in a
headset) as below:
Frequency (Hz)
500
1,000 2,000
3,000
Better ear (dB)
35
30
30
40
Poorer ear (dB)
35
50
50
60
remove fluid from the inner
ear. Surgery should be done at
a medical center experienced
in this condition.
Both treatments have variable results. For favorable FAA
review of a medical application by a pilot with a history
of this condition, the pilot
must be free of vertigo for an
extended observation period,
usually at least 12 months.
Provocative testing of balance
(posturography) and vertigo
using an ENG (electronystygmogram) may be required.
The FAA will require periodic
reports from the physician
monitoring a pilot with a history of Meniere’s syndrome.
If a pilot cannot pass either
the conversational voice test
or the pure tone audiometry,
a formal audiometric speech
discrimination test usually
given by an audiologist with
words given at no more than
65 dB is acceptable for all
classes of certification with a
score of 70 percent or greater.
The best way to preserve
hearing is to protect yourself
from hazardous noise. If you
do experience a hearing loss,
get it evaluated by an expert.
The FAA generally will certify
or waive most pilots with
significant degrees of hearing
loss, assuming the condition
is stable and not associated
with ongoing vertigo.
FAA hearing standards
The current FAA hearing
standards for all classes of
airman medical certificate
ALPA members can
contact the Aeromedical
Office at 303-341-4435,
Monday to Friday, 8:30
a.m. to 4:00 p.m. mountain time, or at www.
AviationMedicine.com.
Solution to this month’s
ALPA sudoku on page 54.
7 6
2
9
85 431
1 35462 8
7
9
89 4 317 526
91
8
624 357
5 768
3
1942
42 357916
8
3 417962
5
2 8
8
7153 694
65 924
8
7
13
Boeing photo
DOUBLE TAKE
CAN YOU
FIND WHAT’S
DIFFERENT?
Capt. Rand Peck (Delta, Ret.)
WHILE THESE TWO
PHOTOS MAY LOOK THE
SAME, THEY ACTUALLY
DIFFER IN 10 WAYS.
CAN YOU FIND
THEM ALL?
Stumped?
Go to
www.ALPA.org/
doubletake to
see how many
you got right.
Good luck!
ALPA Resources and Contact Numbers
National Officers For complete biographical information on ALPA’s national officers, visit www.ALPA.org or scan the QR code below.
Capt. Lee Moak
President
Capt. William Couette
Vice President–
Administration/Secretary
Capt. Sean Cassidy
First Vice President
Capt. Randy Helling
Vice President–
Finance/Treasurer
Executive Vice Presidents For more information on which pilot groups executive vice presidents represent, visit www.ALPA.org/evp.
F/O William Hanna
Air Wisconsin, CommutAir,
ExpressJet, Hawaiian,
Island Air, Trans States
Capt. Dan Adamus
Air Transat, Bearskin, Calm Air,
Canadian North, CanJet, First Air, Jazz
Aviation, Kelowna Flightcraft, Wasaya
Capt. Joe DePete
FedEx Express
F/O Todd Ortscheid
AirTran, Air Transport
International,
North American, PSA
Capt. Tim Canoll
Executive Administrator
F/O Michael Hamilton
United
F/O Scott Smetana
Delta
Capt. Thomas Maxwell
American Eagle, Atlantic
Southeast, Compass,
Mesa Air Group, Ryan
International,
Sun Country
Capt. Larry Beck
Continental
Capt. Mark Nagel
Alaska, Capital Cargo,
Evergreen, Piedmont,
Pinnacle, Spirit
Want to know
more about
ALPA’s EVPs?
Scan the QR
code.
ALPA Sudoku
(© paulspages.co.uk)
7
6
Complete the sudoku puzzle so that each
column, each row, and each of the nine
3×3 sub-grids that compose the grid
contain all the digits from 1 to 9.
1
354628
The solution to this month’s ALPA
sudoku can be found on page 52.
Too easy, too difficult? Tell us what you
think. E-mail [email protected].
Have You Moved?
Please call Membership Services at 1-888-359-2572,
e-mail your new address to [email protected],
or clip out this form—along with the mailing label
on the back cover—and send it to
2
9
85431
7
9
894317526
91
5
8
624357
768
3
1942
42357916
8
3
417962
5
2
8
ALPA Membership Services
PO Box 1169, Herndon, VA 20172-1169
Name_________________________________________
8
Member #_____________________________________
Airline________________________________________
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7
13
ALPA Information Numbers
The following ALPA resources may be
reached by e-mail or by dialing, toll-free,
1-888-359-2572 (1-888-FLY-ALPA). Once
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fifth edition

Transcription

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