American Nears Accord on Eagle Flying Contract, Pilots Say
By Mary Schlangenstein - Jun 6, 2011 2:15 PM PT
American Airlines parent AMR Corp. (AMR) is close to an agreement on regional flying that would be provided by American Eagle as a stand-alone carrier, Eagles pilot union said.
The Air Line Pilots Association at Eagle also said its told AMR about concerns that the smaller airline wont be able to employ enough pilots for the proposed business plan, according to a member update posted on the unions website.
AMR, based in Fort Worth, Texas, has been studying for almost a year whether to separate American Eagle through a spinoff, public offering of stock, or a sale. AMR wants Eagle to compete for the business of ferrying passengers from smaller cities to hub airports operated by American, the third-biggest U.S. carrier.
It is our understanding that management is nearing completion in their negotiations over a potential air-services agreement between Eagle and AMR, and we expect to be briefed on AMRs version of this document next week, the notice said.
The message didnt provide specifics about why union leaders were concerned about pilot staffing at Eagle.
Dan Garton, Eagle chief executive officer, told employees last month that a decision to divest Eagle may be the best option for the airlines future success.
Eagles traffic, or miles flown by paying passengers, rose 17 percent in May from a year earlier, the carrier said today in a statement. Traffic climbed 16 percent for the year through May.
To contact the reporter on this story: Mary Schlangenstein in Dallas at [email protected]
Why are they concerned that they will not be able to staff the airline?
Perhaps because the 5 year reprieve the airlines got when they extended mandatory retirement to 65 has run its course and as you can see the number of people looking to become Airline Pilots has been cut in half.
Category of Certificates 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000
Airline Transport 3,113 5,204 5,918 4,748 4,750 4,255 3,892 4,718 7,070 7,715
http://www.faa.gov/data_research/aviation_data_statistics/civil_airmen_statistics/2009/
AA estimates that on average their mechanics will each put in around 40 hours of OT per month for each of the next five years, OT mitigates the shortage of mechanics however pilots are limted as to how many hours they can fly, so the shortage of pilots will have unavoidable consequences. For mechanics the shortage makes job actions such as refusing to work OT and or CHAOS a very effective alternative to an outright strike.