The Fort Worth Star Telegram Sky Talk Blog has written about the APA pilots union representing American Eagle Pilots now has a new contract and there are a few things of interest to me.  First, this contract got negotiated in almost absolute silence.  There was no real posturing in public and neither side managed to say inflammatory things to the press. 

Second, the instructions to the APA (Allied Pilots Association) negotiating team was to obtain real life improvements to the pilots quality of life and work.   Increased flexiblity (for pilots) and other tangible but not necessarily measurable changes were obtained but no salary concessions were given.  American Eagle got a contract amendment that apparently satisfied both sides needs.

Now, American Eagle pilots are not overpaid to begin with but they are well paid and they do have a pathway to upgrade into American Airlines’ mainline system which is a bit unusual for a regional airline.  American probably did not need to obtain wage concessions but I suspect that they wouldn’t ever mind paying less too. 

The really striking thing about this development is that American Eagle pilots apparently realized that there were no wage gains to be made but they *could* obtain a better quality of work life.  Such concessions from American Eagle may have cost them little or nothing to give.  Both sides won.

This is in direct contrast to the Allied Pilots Association representing American Airline mainline pilots.  These guys have decided that there need to be “givebacks” and that their world is severely impacted by executives who won bonuses.  Personally, I do agree that awarding bonuses to executives when the company has *not* financially performed nor rewarded its lower level employees is wrong.  Very wrong. 

However, if AA pilots think that there is room to give back $3 Billion (yes, that Billion with a “B”) in wages, they are kidding themselves.  If they think there is room give back $1 Billion, they are kidding themselves.  I suspect they could gain quite a bit of work life improvements themselves if they were willing to offer some concessions on productivity. 

And they face yet another problem.  In This Blog Entry, I describe the history of how pilot compensatioin began and why it is a problem today.  American Airline pilots realized that with the announcement that AA is buying new Boeing 787 aircraft, the old model might not fit for compensation.  You see, the 787 is considerably lighter (as a function of its high carbon fibre reinforced plastic construction) than it would ordinarily be.  Much lighter.  A very dim light has come on over their heads and they have begun to realize that, perhaps, pilot pay should be based on criteria having to do with something other than weight and distance. 

You see, the new 787-9 aircraft are capable of carrying almost as many people just as far as a 777-200 but with a lot less weight.  The pilots will want compensation equal to or at least close to a 777 pilot and they’ll begin to look for justifications for that.  Those justifications will inevitably lead to a discussion on all pilot pay because future aircraft such as the 737-RS will also likely be constructed in such a way as to offer the same capacity at less weight as current generation 737 models.  

For once there will need to be a rational agreement on how to pay pilots that involve new measurements instead of the ones in use for 80 years.  This is an opportunity for AA to obtain some sort of deregulation on the cost side of the equation and set new negotiating precedents for other union relationships in the future.

Filed under: Airline Fleets, Airline News, Deregulation by ajax