Southwest Airlines and Airtran mechanics have agreed upon a new deal and found a way to merge seniority satisfactorily. I wrote about this in February when Southwest mechanics derailed the last agreed upon deal.  At that time, how seniority would be handled within the airline in general as well as in Atlanta was the primary issue.

Getting a new deal agreed upon and accepted since then is fast work by all those involved.  I suspect that Southwest was able to alleviate some of the concerns involved with its moves into new aircraft and international flying.  SWA has likely been able to find a way to ensure that all parties maintain some parity in their seniority and their quality of life is preserved.

Not every deal has been made the first time around in union integration in this merger but every deal has been done fairly swiftly compared to most any other merger.

Filed under: Airline News by ajax