Airline Division News Items
Congressman Bob Filner has Agreed to Sponsor Airline Maintenance Outsourcing Bill
The IBT has long championed the goal of a level playing field with regard to the regulation of aircraft maintenance. To this end the IBT developed legislative language that would require the FAA to issue regulations that would bring foreign repair station regulations up to U.S.standards and impose a moratorium until the new regulations are in place.
Congressman Bob Filner (D-Calif.), a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee (Chaired by Congressman Oberstar) and the Aviation Subcommittee, will sponsor the legislation. Under the language, the FAA is directed to require all covered maintenance work on aircraft under part 121 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations, (essentially all commercial air transportation by U.S. carriers), be done by individuals either working for a part 121 carrier or a U.S. repair station operating under part 145. If working for other MRO contractors, the individual must meet part 121 or part 145 requirements, work under the direct supervision and control of the 121 carrier or 145 U.S.repair station, carry out the work in accordance with the part 121 carrier's maintenance manual and complete a security background check and pass periodic random drug tests.
Another important section imposes a moratorium on new maintenance work not done under the standards set out above with one exception per year allowed under exigent circumstances and only after additional steps are taken.
Atlas and Polar Governance Takes Shape
Elections for the open positions on Executive Council will take place within 90 days of the contract amalgamation. Negotiations on the new contract are expected to end on August 13, 2009. In the mean time, as announced in last week's news, an appointed Transitional Executive Council is in place to insure that contract provisions for each group are honored. Also, nominations for stewards, five for Atlas and three for Polar, are being mailed out today. Additional steward elections will be held again in six months so there will be staggered terms to insure continuous coverage in the future.
United Airlines Mechanics Negotiation Updates will be on Teamsters Website
Negotiations on a new contract are set to begin on April 14, 2009. Peter Finn of Local 856 will be preparing status reports on the progress of the negotiations and these updates will be accessible on the Airline Division page of the Teamsters website.
FAA Drops Its Rest Plan for Pilots on Long Hauls
After years of disputes with airlines over ways to reduce fatigue in the cockpit, the FAA withdrew a proposal mandating extra rest for U.S.pilots flying the longest international routes. The FAA decision jettisons a policy which senior officials had championed as an important safety measure. The FAA had been pushing for additional rest for pilots before, during and after flying these long flights lasting 16 hours or longer.
The airline industry opposed the proposed regulations, which would have mandated longer layovers for pilots and could have required some carriers to redesign cabins to provide additional sleeping areas for flight crews.
But last week the FAA informed airlines, pilot unions and other groups it was dropping the proposal based on industry comments. An FAA spokesman said last Friday that the agency will work with airlines over the next year to gather data that will help determine the safety requirements for these flights.
Week In Review News Items
Labor Developments
United Airlines is preparing to outsource some international flying, a move likely to spark an uproar as the carrier opens contract talks with its pilots April 9. Other U.S.carriers and their unions are closely watching a venture being created by Chicago-based United and Aer Lingus that will use non-union crews on new flights from Washington-Dulles International Airport to Madrid, set to begin in March 2010. And Frontier Airlines on Monday filed a court action accusing the union that represents its pilots of not living up to an agreement that allowed the company to stop matching retirement plan contributions.
Cargo Demand
FedEx reported net income of $97 million for its fiscal third quarter ended Feb. 28, down 75% from a $393 million profit in the year-ago period, blaming "the continued deterioration in global economic conditions." Chairman, President and CEO Frederick Smith said the "sharply lower" results and the "severity and expected duration of the recession require that we take additional [cost reduction] actions." He said FedEx will cut network capacity in both its Express and Freight operations, cut an unspecified number of personnel and work hours, expand previously announced pay reductions to non-US workers and generally tighten expenditures.
Commercial Airline Demand
The losses of world airlines in 2009 are likely to exceed the $2.5 billion forecast previously, as the global economic crisis eats up passenger and cargo traffic, an industry body said on Thursday. Revenues at AMR Corp., parent of American Airlines, will drop as much as 11 percent during the first quarter amid a decline in travel and falling ticket prices. Fort Worth-based AMR said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday that revenues measured by passenger seat-mile will be down between 10.2 percent and 11.2 percent compared to the previous quarter for the entire company. On a brighter note, passenger traffic for leisure travel hasn't fallen off much from last year, Scott Kirby, president of U.S. Airways Group Inc., said Monday, although fare wars for passenger dollars are cutting into profits.
Airline Alliances
Oneworld carriers American Airlines, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia and Royal Jordanian yesterday jointly filed answers to the US Dept. of Transportation's request for additional information regarding their transatlantic antitrust application and expressed confidence that a decision will be made by DOT in the second half of 2009. "Antitrust immunity will benefit the public by allowing oneworld to compete more effectively against the SkyTeam and Star alliances, both of which already enjoy broad antitrust immunity," the airlines said.
Aircraft Manufacturing
One of two airlines flying the world's biggest plane to the U.S.is pulling the aircraft because of the economic downturn. Dubai-based Emirates said Wednesday it will replace two double-decker Airbus A380s it uses on a daily Dubai-New York flight with smaller Boeing 777s starting June 1. The first version of the Boeing 787 needs to slim down, says the chief of International Lease Finance Corp., the airplane's biggest customer. "Rest assured that the first batch of 787s will be overweight," ILFC chief Steven Udvar-Hazy said Tuesday at a conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., according to Air Transport Intelligence. "In the long run, this will be an excellent aircraft," Udvar-Hazy said. "But I pity the airlines that get the first ones.
Airline Fees
It's been a long time coming, but it seems U.S. airlines finally may have reached a limit on new fees they can charge for in-flight perks that used to be included in the ticket price. That's welcome news for travelers who find the avalanche of new fees tedious. "If people knew that this was the extent to which this is going to go, that would make them feel better," said Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition. "But they should also know that there's no reversing it."