Continental has announced that 15 of about 150 pilots furloughed in 2008 will be recalled back to the company.  Another 100 who took voluntary leave will also be coming back.  Supposedly this is because of some planned growth on Continental’s part including the addition of 2 new Boeing 777 aircraft in the near future. 

 It’s a good piece of news both for these pilots and the industry.  Delta has announced it will be hiring some additional pilots as well. 

But the Continental news has me wondering even more about how Continental and United pilots will integrate their seniority.  If I were a betting man, I would bet that United pilots have a higher average seniority and that means a seniority merge could result in a lot of Continental pilots getting bumped back down.  Seniority determines pay so it will be a contentious issue.  Sadly, neither group has someone like Delta ALPA leader Lee Moak to guide them through in a reasonable way.

Filed under: Airline News by ajax