Alex Arger
Solving the airline pilot shortage may require multiple solutions
In Congress right now, the proposed 2023 FAA Reauthorization Act would raise the current required pilot retirement age from 65 to 67.
LEARN MOREPosted: 9:03 p.m. EDT Jul 28, 2023
A long battle between American Airlines and its pilots seems to finally be nearing its end.
On Thursday, the Allied Pilots Association, the union representing American Airlines pilots, said it reached an agreement on an enhanced version of its previous tentative agreement, now referred to as TA 2.0.
TA 2.0 matches terms of agreements reached by Delta Air Lines and United Airlines pilots — a parity request American Airlines pilots asked for when they postponed the vote to ratify the original TA.
The original TA had been increased to more than $9 billion over four years when the 15,000 pilots in APA indefinitely postponed voting to ratify it until further improvements were made to "bring [them] in line with [their] peers."
Though the first TA had finally brought the airline's pay standards to the same level as United, the APA said other benefits, like "quality-of-life" provisions, didn't match up, pushing the union's board to postpone the vote late Sunday evening.
The union's board of directors then said it would take days, not weeks, to reach a new agreement, and they stuck to their word.
TA 2.0, APA said, now includes all improvements to the original TA that it was asking for, "along with additional improvements." Those include changes in medical reimbursements, per diem, extended sick leave, and more, along with the obvious pay rate increases.
Now TA 2.0 is contingent again on a ratification vote by the union, which is set for August, and on United pilots ratifying their agreement, which gives employees up to a 40% raise.
American Airlines' pay rate matching with United and Delta leaves Southwest Airlines as the only one of the nation's four biggest carriers to not reach a tentative deal with its pilots. The airline has been in unsuccessful contract negotiations with its pilots for years, and its CEO Robert Jordan said there was "nothing new to report."
