Management, Pilots Fail To Reach Agreement On Immunity... Or
Anything, For That Matter
"Sad and incomprehensible." That's how one pilot for American
Airlines summarized the loss this week of a 14-year voluntary pilot
safety program at the Fort Worth, TX-based carrier... the apparent
victim of ever-present squabbling between those pilots, and
management.
Called the Aviation Safety Action Partnership, or ASAP, the
program was a joint-effort between the airline, the FAA and the
Allied Pilots Association. Since 1994, ASAP gave American pilots a
way to report safety-related incidents, without fear of
disciplinary action or retribution from management or the FAA...
even if those pilots were at fault.
As ANN reported in January, the pilots union
-- locked in a bitter contract fight with American management --
accused the airline of unfairly disciplining pilots, even when an
incident was accepted for review under the program. APA argued
those actions left other pilots wary of participating... which
negated the purpose of ASAP in the first place.
American countered it was allowed to discipline pilots in the
rare instances when an outside party, such as a ramp worker, also
submitted a report. The airline refused to budge on that point.
The FAA issued a temporary extension for ASAP in February, and
again in June... but the writing was on the wall. On Monday, ASAP
passed quietly into the ether, with both sides blaming the other
for their failure to come to terms.
American pilot Billy Nolen termed the loss of ASAP "sad and
incomprehensible." Alas, that was one of the more measured
responses to the program's lapse.
"The APA's willingness to discard a 14-year program that has
done so much for our pilots, our airline and our industry is
impossible to understand," said American spokeswoman Tami
McLallen.
In response, APA officials slammed the pettiness of American
officials. "Management, in this case, flight department management,
has lost the trust of its pilots," union leaders said in an email
to pilots. "It is that simple."
ASAP is
but the latest casualty of the oil-and-water relationship between
American executives and its pilots. Basic civility checked out a
while ago... as evidenced by last month's suspension of an American
Airlines pilot for allegedly taxiing too slowly at
Dallas/Fort Worth International, to the consternation of an
American flight-system manager who was in the cockpit of the jet
trailing.
Last year, American's plans to start service between DFW and
China were thwarted, after the union insisted on an outbound stop
at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport to change flight crews,
thus keeping total time for flight crews under the
contract-mandated 16 hours. American would not budge on a union
proposal to extend the limit, in exchange for certain
concessions... a tactic Gerard Arpey, CEO of American parent
company AMR,
later conceded was a miscalculation on the
airline's part.
Contract talks between the two sides have dragged on for two
years, with no progress. American says it has no extra money to
give pilots; the union responds the airline could free up those
funds,
if only it would stop awarding AMR managers and executives
with lucrative bonuses... even as the carrier
continues to hemorrhage cash.
The latest victim to the stalled talks may be American's
proposal to form a trans-Atlantic alliance with British Airways and
Spain's Iberia.
Pilots have opposed American's bid for
anti-trust immunity in the deal.
"Given closer arrangements now being forged between Delta and
Northwest, and Continental and United, (American) would be
strategically wounded if labor is successful at thwarting" the
alliance, wrote Credit Suisse analyst Daniel McKenzie in a note to
investors, according to the Star-Telegram.
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