Pilots talk as they give the impression of being on the tail of an American Airlines aircraft at Dallas-Ft Value International Airport.
Mike Stone | Reuters
American Airlines‘ pilots union is weighing a proposal for higher raises in a recent two-year contract proposal, the most recent try and seal up a labor deal on the country’s largest airline.
If approved by the union’s board and ratified by the airline’s 15,000 pilots, aviators would get 12% raises on the date of contract signing, plus 5% after one yr, and a pair of% after two years, in accordance with a duplicate of the agreement in principal. The overall could be higher than the raises American offered in June.
More senior captains would get about $432 an hour two years after signing, while recent first officers would get near $110 an hour, in accordance with the preliminary agreement.
Airlines are scrambling to get labor deals done with pilots, their highest-paid unionized employees, and other groups. American and the opposite largest U.S. carriers – Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines – have been in negotiations with their pilot groups for months, with the pandemic derailing talks as travel demand collapsed. FedEx pilots are also in contract talks.
“Getting our labor deals done is a really high priority for our people,” Southwest’s CEO Robert Jordan said on an earnings call on Thursday.
Pilots are in brief supply and regional airlines, where the shortage is most acute, have raised wages sharply this yr. Those hikes included American Airlines’ subsidiaries where pilots got 50% increases through August 2024.
