Mobile Billboard Gives Visibility To Message Against DOT

 Delta pilots continued to demonstrate their opposition to the DOT's recent decision to place what they called onerous and likely deal-breaking conditions on its tentative approval of a proposal by Delta and US Airways to exchange takeoff and landing slots in New York and Washington, DC. On Friday, a "mobile billboard" drove through the nation's capitol with a message that the DOT's decision represents a trifecta of failure -- a lose-lose-lose scenario for the consumer, labor, and the airlines.

The move follows a letter to Delta pilots in which, Captain Lee Moak, chairman of the Delta branch of the Air Line Pilots Association, the union that represents over 12,000 Delta pilots, criticized the decision as a failure of government and an aggressive intrusion into an already overregulated industry.

"DOT's claims that their actions are designed to protect the consumer are unsupported by critical analysis," Captain Moak stated. "The DOT's decision is not only anti-consumer; it is also anti-labor and anti-business."

Under the terms of the joint petition Delta would have transferred 42 pairs of slots to US Airways at Ronald Reagan Washington National along with international route authority to Sao Paulo and Tokyo. In exchange, US Airways would have transferred 125 pairs of slots at New York's LaGuardia airport to Delta and leased another 15 pairs with the option to purchase. The proposal would have allowed both carriers to capitalize on their network strengths, maintain existing service and add new nonstop service between two of America's top business markets and small and medium-sized communities across the United States.

ALPA mobile billboard. Credit: PRNewsFoto/ALPA

DOT granted the carriers' joint petition but conditioned the approval on the divestiture of 14 pairs of slots at Reagan National (33 percent of the total) and 20 pairs of slots at LaGuardia (16 percent of the total). The DOT also dictated the timing of the sale and a short list of government selected beneficiaries of the divestiture.

These conditions "substantially weaken the value of the deal and will likely render it unacceptable to both airlines," Captain Moak wrote.  "For both the consumer and labor, the reality is that the long-term interests of both are best served by a vigorously healthy, profitable, flourishing airline industry, and when the government interferes in the free-market process . . . that simply cannot happen."

"In fact, what the traveling public often takes for granted when they travel -- highly skilled professional employees earning competitive wages, an exemplary safety record, broad consumer choice and even inexpensive fares -- can only exist long term against the backdrop of a profitable and successful airline industry," Captain Moak continued. "Viewed from this perspective, there is no rational way to justify the DOT's recent ruling."

FMI: www.alpa.org, www.deltapilots.org