Found To Be In Full Compliance With Pilot Contract
A ruling by an independent arbitrator indicates that
American's proposed Joint Business Agreement with British Airways
and Iberia does not violate its contract with the Allied Pilots
Association.
Earlier this week, APA had staged informational pickets in
Washington, DC at the Department of Transportation urging DOT not
to grant the anti-trust waiver for a Joint Business Agreement
between American Airlines, British Airways, and Iberia
Airlines.
After the ruling was made public, American issued the following
statement:
"After a formal presentation of evidence and arguments in an
arbitration board hearing, an independent arbitrator has ruled that
American's proposed Joint Business Agreement (JBA) with British
Airways and Iberia does not violate its pilot contract. The
arbitrator also conducted a series of mediated discussions with the
Allied Pilots Association (APA), during which American offered
concrete proposals to address APA's concerns about job security.
The company also offered protections that American's share of the
flying as part of the JBA would remain relatively proportional over
time. The company believed that this would address the APA's core
concerns, but instead the APA rejected it. The arbitration decision
cited a history of prior contract negotiations supportive of
international codesharing with British Airways and the likely
economic benefits to American of the Joint Business Agreement.
American is pleased with the arbitrator's decision and remains
optimistic that the United States Department of Transportation
(DOT) will conduct a thorough assessment of its application and
conclude that it will improve competition and benefit customers.
This agreement is designed to encourage growth and increase
revenues so all the participating airlines and airline employees
will benefit. It will also offer customers access to an expanded
network with seamless service around the globe.
The Joint Business Agreement is expected to help American
generate needed additional revenue that will enhance its ability to
invest in improved products and services for our customers and to
continue to provide great jobs for its employees. It's important to
remember that the proposed Joint Business Agreement with British
Airways and Iberia is based on a revenue sharing arrangement, which
means the only way an airline gets to share in the revenues is to
fly. As a result, the more AA flies, the more revenue it would
receive. The less AA flies, the less revenue it would receive.
The financial benefits created by the agreement and antitrust
immunity will allow American to be much more competitive on
corporate contracts, offer consumers greater access to discounted
fares and routing choices, and improve opportunities for growth -
all of which is expected to lead to additional revenue.
Unfortunately, leaders of the Allied Pilots Association continue
to disagree with this important initiative. Their statements and
actions seem to be in direct contrast to their purported goals in
negotiations: creating more opportunity and increasing job security
for AA pilots.
The proposed American Airlines, British Airways, Iberia
Airlines antitrust immunity proposal has the support of 28 U.S.
Senators, 135 U.S. Representatives, 40 Governors, 109 Mayors and
131 airports from around the nation. In total, there have been more
than 3,300 letters of support for the application, including 615
travel related organizations, 324 economic, education and
not-for-profit organizations, and 442 corporations, small business
and for-profit organizations.
With the expansion and strengthening of Star and SkyTeam
alliances, American and its fellow applicants believe that oneworld
needs antitrust immunity to compete on a level playing field. The
company believes its plans for a joint business agreement with
Iberia and British Airways will allow oneworld to compete on equal
footing, which will benefit customers, communities, shareholders
and employees. The companies' application for antitrust immunity is
pending with the DOT and they continue to discuss the benefits of
their plans with regulators in the European Union."