Airline Division News Items
Captains Sullenberger and Bourne Met with Speaker Pelosi
Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger the "Hero of the Hudson" and USAPA representatives asked Capt. David Bourne, IBT Airline Division Director, to join them in a meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Sully said the Teamster aviation reform issues, of pension reform, bankruptcy reform, and opposition to outsourcing are also his issues. Speaker Pelosi told Captain Bourne, "we hear you" in regard to the Teamster issues.
David Bourne Met with Head of House Aviation Subcommittee
Congressman Jerry Costello, Chairman of the House Aviation Subcommittee, met with David Bourne to discuss aviation issues. Capt. Bourne discussed the recent aircraft accidents and related safety issues. Congressman Costello asked for a private one-on-one meeting with Bourne to further discuss airline safety.
Bourne Gives New York Public Radio Interview
WFUV radio in New York interviewed Airline Division Director Bourne on the topics of outsourcing and pension reform. WFUV 90.7 FM is a public radio station from Fordham University in New York City.
Congressman Mike Turner Meets with Teamsters
John Herron, Legislative Liaison with IBT Local 1224 of Wilmington Ohio and David Bourne met with Congressman Turner to discuss issues facing ABX pilots as they work to develop a plan to provide a future for the group after DHL restructuring and to insure severance money promised by DHL.
Airline Division to Focus on Grievance Process with United Mechanics Group
The Airline Division will collect the full list of grievances in the pipeline, including old AMFA grievances and any new grievances since the Teamsters representation started. The idea is to determine if there are problems in the process and if so what can be done to fix and problems.
Grievance Involving Recent United Line Maintenance Station Closings is Set for Arbitration Hearing
As part of an earlier agreement between the Airline Division and United it was agreed that the correct interpretation of Article II D5 as it would apply to station closings and the meaning of term "emergency on call maintenance" would be subject to fast track arbitration. The issue has been docketed for an arbitration hearing in the month of April as anticipated in the agreement.
Southwest Section 6 Progress
Dan Smith the International Representative for the Airline Division reports that Southwest Airline Stock Clerks in Section 6 negotiations have tentative agreements on eleven articles and further discussions on others. They are currently introducing and having dialog on economic articles with the company. Further negotiations are scheduled for March 2,3,4th. and March 17,18th.
Week in Review News Items
Labor Developments
The mechanics union at Northwest Airlines will not represent any mechanics at merger partner Delta Air Lines, after failing to garner enough support among the combined mechanics group. Northwest mechanics were represented by the small Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association. The captain and crew who guided US Airways Flight 1549 to a smooth landing in New York's Hudson River had years of experience that analysts say equipped them to handle the disaster. However, at a congressional hearing this week Captain Chesley Sullenberger said that pay cuts by the struggling airline industry could have less-experienced crew manning airplanes in the future, a potential threat to passenger safety. The same logic obviously applies to maintaining airplanes.
American Airlines plans to furlough up to 410 flight attendants April 1 unless it can get enough volunteers to take leaves, early departures or other steps to reduce their ranks. And long time labor activist Roger Graham who spearheaded a successful grassroots campaign to extend the recall rights of the laid off flight attendants at American Airlines after 9/11 is again pushing American to extend those recall rights indefinitely. The pilots union at American says it is preparing to disrupt the carrier's operations — but will stop short of a strike — if it can't get a new labor contract.
Commercial Aviation Safety
Investigators took detailed photos of the wreckage of a Turkish Airlines Boeing 737 and analyzed black box recordings Thursday, trying to piece together why the plane lost speed and crashed into a muddy field, killing nine people and injuring 86. Flight TK1951 from Istanbul fell out of the sky about two miles short of the runway at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport on Wednesday morning. Turkish Airlines was accused a week before of "inviting disaster" by ignoring aircraft maintenance, it emerged Thursday. Turkish Civil Aviation Union announced on its Web site on February 18 that Turkish Airlines "is ignoring the most basic function of flight safety, which is plane maintenance services."
A person born on July 17, 1996, the day that T.W.A. Flight 800 exploded off Long Island, will be old enough to earn a pilot's license — and maybe even to work for an airline — before the hardware ordered after that crash is installed on all airplanes, in about 2016. The National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the Buffalo crash, says it's long past time for the Federal Aviation Administration to implement ice-safety recommendations the board has made for years. And a group advocating airline safety has sued the federal government for failing to take action on suggested runway improvements and airplane icing — one of the suspected causes of Flight 3407's crash in Clarence Center on Feb. 12.
Airline Industry Financial Outlook
Plunging airline stocks suggest investors worry a few carriers may wind up in bankruptcy, victims of the U.S. financial crisis. Analysts say there is no immediate danger of that for any major carriers, although it could be the fate of one or two by this time next year if credit markets stay tight or the economy weakens further. Tempe, Arizona-based US Airways is considered the most vulnerable among legacy carriers. American Airlines, a unit of Fort Worth-based AMR, also faces some financial headwinds given its debt obligations and how much cash it is currently expected to end the year with heading into next winter, a typically slow season.
The Race To The Bottom
Ryanair, the Irish carrier, is planning to abolish conventional check-in facilities at airports across its European network by early next year forcing all passengers to check in online. What's more, Chief executive Michael O'Leary told the BBC that the Dublin-based carrier was looking at maybe installing a "coin slot on the toilet door."
Trends Affecting Business Travel
One year ago, rising oil prices were taking travel costs to new heights and business travelers were feeling the pinch. Now travel prices are falling again, fueled by the global recession, and airlines, hoteliers and car rental companies are taking evasive actions to survive. Here are ten trends caused by the global economic meltdown, and what they will mean for business travelers in 2009.