ALPA Calls Company A "Money Losing Operation"

If the Air Line Pilots Association has its way, the FAA will shut down Boston-Maine Airways. The ALPA says the airline should never have been granted "large jet aircraft authority" because Boston-Maine is "a money losing operation."

Foster's Online reports the big beef appears to have been the shutdown of Pan Am Airways in Pease, MA. Union pilots say the airline was shut down solely because Boston-Maine began operating a 727 on a head-to-head basis with Pan Am. The ALPA says that was also a blatant attempt on Boston-Maine's part to sidestep unionization.

Pan Am and Boston-Maine are both operated by Guilford Transportation.

The ALPA filing last Thursday said, "companies owned and managed by the Mellon Group (owners of Guilford) have repeatedly transferred work from unionized to nonunion groups to avoid their collective bargaining obligations under the RLA (Railway Labor Act), repeatedly discharged pilots because they were unwilling to fly in violation of FAA safety rules, repeatedly refused to comply with final and binding decisions of system boards of adjustment as required under the RLA, and willfully violated environmental laws," according to Foster's.

"We assert that these repeated obvious violations show a lack of necessary compliance disposition because the Guilford ownership group has repeatedly and flagrantly failed to observe and respect legal obligations," said ALPA attorney Marcus Migliore.

FMI: www.bmairways.com/index.html