Airline Pilots Seek Big Raises, and Broader Changes

A little over two years ago, pilots at the four big airlines were in the early stages of contract negotiations. But those efforts were essentially halted by the start of the pandemic. The industry’s focus shifted to survival, and airlines and unions joined forces to successfully lobby Congress for $54 billion in pandemic aid.

The travel recovery languished until last summer, when the widespread availability of coronavirus vaccines prompted a rebound. Contract talks resumed in earnest this year.

United and its pilots have moved the closest to a new contract, having reached a two-year agreement that pilots will vote on this week. Under the deal, pilots would receive a series of raises that would increase pay more than 14.5 percent within 18 months. They would also receive better pay for working overtime and during high-demand periods; eight weeks of paid maternity leave; better schedule flexibility; and more protections against overwork.

Last month, American publicized its own offer to pilots, which broadly matched the United deal and would raise base pay nearly 17 percent by the start of 2024. That would increase the top base salary for a captain of a single-aisle plane to $340,000 a year, while a captain of a larger twin-aisle plane could earn as much as $425,000 a year, the airline’s chief executive said in a message to pilots. The offer will include substantial signing bonuses if pilots agree to it by the end of September.

But the union representing American’s 14,000 aviators, the Allied Pilots Association, was unimpressed. In a video message to the union’s members, Ed Sicher, its president, argued that this was “the most competitive market in history for qualified airline pilots,” and one that would largely drive favorable pay increases. He encouraged the union’s members to remain focused on securing better rules governing scheduling and assignments.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/10/business/airline-pilots-pay.html