Safety Alliance Expresses Concern over Proposed FAA Change
In a letter to the FAA Manager of the Voluntary Safety Programs Branch, the Teamsters Airline Division, along with representatives of ATA, CAPA, TWU, CWA and ALPA have raised a collective voice regarding proposed changes to the FAA program known as ASAP.
The Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) is designed to allow users at participating airlines to report safety problems within the aviation system in a manner that encourages reporting to allow users to identify and fix problems, while de-emphasizing the penalty to the person reporting the problem, thereby encouraging a proactive environment to address problems before they become serious.
In the letter to Christopher McWhorter, FAA Acting Manager of the Voluntary Safety Programs Branch, the representatives wrote: “We are concerned that some of these changes may have a negative impact on these successful programs. We feel this negative impact is due, in part, to the fact that industry was not consulted during the development of the changes.” They continued, “As you know, on properties with successful programs, the Event Review Committee (“ERC”) historically has had the latitude to decide how best to conduct due process, in accordance with their approved ASAP MOU, FAA Advisory Circular 120-66B, and by consensus of all three parties. The FAA now requires the use of specific inflexible tools in the current enforcement decision process. These “risk weighting” processes are cumbersome, unrealistic and take out the consensus driven approach required of an ERC in event handling. This forces the ERC to look at the outcome versus the error, which contradicts the Administrator’s expressed goal of a partnership supporting a just safety culture.
In the letter, ALA states that based upon their members experience with Event Review Committees, corrective action decisions that have not been based upon the ERC’s need of intense familiarity with FAA legal enforcement doctrine should continue in that manner to encourage outcome based solutions. Event Review Committees are comprised of representatives of the participating airline, the pilot groups’ union safety representatives and the FAA inspector assigned to the airline. The letter went on to say, “We firmly believe the value of these programs lies within the discretion of all three ERC members based on their training, experience and judgment.”
Commenting on the letter, Airline Division Director David Bourne said, “As Division Director and as an airline pilot, I have had the opportunity to see this program at work. Properly used, ASAP is an invaluable tool for airlines, labor and the FAA to work in unison for the common goal of improving airline safety. Simply put, it works. I hope that the FAA will reconsider their position and implement the recommended changes proposed by the ALA without delay. To do less would place the integrity of the program at unacceptable risk,” he concluded.
Week In Review News Items
Labor Developments
American Airlines, its unions and federal mediators are starting the new year where they left off — back at the negotiating table. This week the Fort Worth-based airline and the Association of Professional Flight Attendants had their first set of mediated talks since May. And next week, American has mediation sessions scheduled with the Allied Pilots Association on Jan. 11-13 in Fort Worth, as well as with the Transport Workers Union on Jan. 10-14 in Hurst…integration of the newly merged Continental and United is well underway, but pilot integration is just getting started. This past week, the pilots gained some additional leverage thanks to an arbitrator’s decision that Continental had violated the pilots’ contract with some recent scheduling moves. That’s going to force the airline to deal directly with the pilots instead of going around them on the all-important issue of outsourcing.
Legislative, Safety & Regulatory
A pilot's spilled coffee accidentally triggered a hijacking alert and caused a United Airlines flight from Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany, to make an unscheduled stop in Canada…Europe, the United States and other governments should step up cooperation on cargo security to counter potential terrorist attacks that could disrupt global trade, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said this week after a round of talks with EU officials in Brussels.
Airline Industry Finances & Structure
AirTran Airways said it had a 5.3 percent increase in passenger traffic in 2010, setting a record for the company. The airline also had its highest annual flight capacity and passenger counts last year. AirTran's increase in traffic, measured in revenue passenger miles, came on a 3.3 percent increase in capacity…top global airlines are staying away from further hedging jet fuel purchases that account for around a third of their costs, betting that a recent surge in oil prices to two-year highs will slow.
Travel Distribution
An ongoing battle between American Airlines and online travel agents Orbitz and Expedia has played out for weeks with more fervor, unlikely alliances and backstabbing than the last season of The Apprentice. When American and Orbitz failed to reach terms on a new distribution agreement, the airline ordered its schedule dropped from the popular travel website on Dec. 21. Just a few days later, pre-empting its own distribution dispute, Expedia hid American's listings from search results, making it difficult but not impossible to book an AA flight on the website. Then, once Expedia's agreement with American ended Dec. 31, it dropped the carrier from the site, calling the airline's strategy "anti-consumer and anti-choice.
Miscellaneous
Southwest Airlines is revamping its frequent-flier program with changes designed to nudge customers into buying higher-priced tickets by letting them earn bonus flights faster…airline fees are not going away anytime soon and — if past years are any indicator — 2011 is likely to bring a whole new bevy of fees to the flying public…so just about everybody is back home or at least moving smoothly on the road. But what have we learned from the mess that radiated outward from snowbound New York airports over the Christmas holiday, when about 10,000 flights were canceled over five days?