Aircraft mechanics at bankrupt American Airlines voted to reject the company’s “final best” contract proposal because it isn’t the last and it’s a long way from being the best the company can offer the Transport Workers Union, workers say.
“Mechanics didn’t vote “no” out of anger, we voted “no” because it was a bad contract and we are content to continue to negotiate along with the pilots and flight attendants until we get offered a good one,” said Dan McCoy, a 25-year American mechanic at the Maintenance & Engineering Center and a member of TWU Local 514 in Tulsa.
Ready to redeem your frequent-flier miles and reward points for a plane ticket? You’ll probably get a seat on Southwest, but good luck with Delta, at least at the basic redemption level.
Southwest Airlines has the best availability of award seats among U.S. airlines on travel dates this year between April and October, according to an annual survey by IdeaWorks Co., a travel consultancy that made 6,680 queries on 23 airline websites testing availability. The worst among U.S. airlines: Delta Air Lines and US Airways. Those two had no seats available at the lowest mileage level on about two out of every three inquires, or worse.
Availability increased this year at British Airways and United Airlines, along with JetBlue Airways, Southwest and its AirTran Airways unit. And it is tougher this year to get standard-level award tickets at American Airlines, which is undergoing bankruptcy reorganization.
NEW YORK — Attorneys for the Association of Professional Flight Attendants began making their case against American Airlines Wednesday afternoon in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
Testifying first for the union was its president, Laura Glading.
She rejected American’s proposed cuts as too deep, and said the airline’s offer would send flight attendants into poverty.
“I think what I was trying to say is ‘Look: If you want to kill us, shoot us yourselves. We’re not going to take the gun and do it ourselves,” Glading said.
Pinnacle Airlines Corp. (PNCLQ), the bankrupt airline won approval to borrow as much as $74.3 million from Delta Airlines Inc. after a judge overruled objections from a group of shareholders.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Gerber in Manhattan court today approved the company’s request for the so-called debtor- in-possession loan that will fund operations in bankruptcy. The loan requires Pinnacle to take on money-losing contracts to provide services to Delta and sets a timeline for it to renegotiate labor terms with its unions and file an exit plan.
“It’s undisputed that Delta is the only game in town and that the debtor desperately needs this money,” Gerber said, as he heard hours of testimony over whether Delta had tilted Pinnacle into bankruptcy and created onerous loan terms for its own benefit.
Philadelphia will be the US Airways hub for nonstop flights to Asia if the airline launches service to China, Japan or Turkey, airline officials said.
Currently, the only nonstop flight to Asia from Philadelphia International Airport is a US Airways flight to Tel Aviv, Israel. Philadelphia is the largest metro area in the country without nonstop service to other cities in Asia.
Service to Beijing, Istanbul or Narita, Japan, will await the delivery of new long-distance planes in the next several years and would also depend on fuel costs and government approvals, officials said.
“These are all things that may happen, but they depend on what happens on a macroeconomic level,” US Airways president Scott Kirby told employees in recent “state of the airline” remarks. “Our aircraft order gives us flexibility, and we can use these aircraft either as replacement aircraft or to grow into those markets.”
Aircraft mechanics at bankrupt American Airlines voted to reject the company’s “final best” contract proposal because it isn’t the last and it’s a long way from being the best the company can offer the Transport Workers Union, workers say.
Philadelphia will be the US Airways hub for nonstop flights to Asia if the airline launches service to China, Japan or Turkey, airline officials said.
