Sparked By Delay Of Delivery Of Six Embraer E175 Jets

The union that represents the approximately 800 pilots flying for Horizon Air has filed a lawsuit against the carrier to assure that it does not reassign its Embraer E175 airliners for which it has delayed delivery.

The Seattle Times reports that Horizon says it does not have enough pilots to fly the new planes, so it has put off taking delivery of the new airliners for an undetermined period of time. That led Teamsters Local 1224, concerned that the airplanes might be leased to rival regional airline SkyWest, to file its lawsuit asking for a federal injunction ensuring that only Horizon pilots can fly the new jets.

Horizon CEO Dave Campbell said that three jets scheduled for delivery this fall have already been deferred, as have three more that would have entered revenue service in the spring of 2018. He said that the carrier's pilot shortage has caused a slowdown in operations, but insisted that the move was temporary. He said that by the end of 2018, all 23 E175 jets that were scheduled for delivery in 2017 and 2018 will be delivered, including the six deferrals.

But Campbell also said that the final disposition of the aircraft has not been determined. According to the report, the lawsuit came after Greg Unterseher, director of representation for Teamsters Local 1224, was told by Campbell that since their agreement with Embraer does not allow the deliveries to be deferred, they aircraft wild be leased to SkyWest under a new leasing subsidiary of Alaska Air and flown on routes for the larger carrier normally served by Horizon Air. The move would help reduce the number of flight cancellations that feed Alaska Air mainline routes.

The union sued citing a 2016 agreement signed with Horizon that states "Horizon Air's pilots represented by the Union would have the exclusive right to fly all of those firm order aircraft."

Campbell wrote to Unterseher that it is his belief that the larger group has "flexibility" when it comes to airline deferrals, and that both Horizon and Alaska Air intend to "honor the fleet letter that was previously signed."

(Image from file)

FMI: www.apa1224.org, www.alaskaair.com