Pilots, Freight Line Approve 10-Year Labor Contract

Kitty Hawk Aircargo and Kitty Hawk Pilots Association (KPA), representing the pilots and flight engineers employed by Kitty Hawk Aircargo, have jointly announced the ratification of a landmark 10-year collective bargaining labor agreement.

The collective bargaining agreement and unique 10-year strategic partnership between Kitty Hawk Aircargo and its pilots was ratified on October 17. The agreement becomes effective immediately, with individual portions of the Agreement to be implemented during the next 30-60 days. The airlines' professional pilots and flight engineers overwhelmingly ratified the agreement with more than 81 percent approval of the ballots cast.

"Our pilot group brought a long-range view to the negotiating table," said Capt. Tom Gothard, chairman of the KPA Master Executive Council. "Our members understand that their personal success as pilots goes hand-in-hand with the success of the company for which they work, and we've achieved those goals with this new contract."

"This innovative collective bargaining partnership provides the long-term stability which is so vitally important to the future of everyone who is a member of the Kitty Hawk team, but especially its pilots," said Robert W. Zoller, Kitty Hawk Aircargo's president and CEO. "Both sides worked collectively, long and hard, to craft this new and historic relationship which recognizes the importance of creating a solid foundation that will allow us to build a successful future enterprise. We're delighted with the outcome and very proud of the professional pilots and flight engineers who are part of a great Kitty Hawk team."

Contract innovations should help all parties.

In addition to its unusually long 10-year duration, the new relationship includes some unique features - including a "no strike/no lockout" clause; limits on the timing and number of changes during the term of the agreement; as well as a special mechanism for ultimately resolving such limited proposed changes. That mechanism may be characterized as final offer or "baseball-style" binding arbitration, which provides for an outside, independent arbitrator to quickly settle any items that cannot be agreed upon by both sides after 60 days of negotiations.

Kitty Hawk is proud of its customer service, and achieves 99.6 percent on-time delivery to its customers with its mission-critical overnight service and second-day guaranteed delivery options.

FMI: www.khcargo.com