Management, Pilots Fail To Reach Agreement On Immunity... Or Anything, For That Matter

"Sad and incomprehensible." That's how one pilot for American Airlines summarized the loss this week of a 14-year voluntary pilot safety program at the Fort Worth, TX-based carrier... the apparent victim of ever-present squabbling between those pilots, and management.

Called the Aviation Safety Action Partnership, or ASAP, the program was a joint-effort between the airline, the FAA and the Allied Pilots Association. Since 1994, ASAP gave American pilots a way to report safety-related incidents, without fear of disciplinary action or retribution from management or the FAA... even if those pilots were at fault.

As ANN reported in January, the pilots union -- locked in a bitter contract fight with American management -- accused the airline of unfairly disciplining pilots, even when an incident was accepted for review under the program. APA argued those actions left other pilots wary of participating... which negated the purpose of ASAP in the first place.

American countered it was allowed to discipline pilots in the rare instances when an outside party, such as a ramp worker, also submitted a report. The airline refused to budge on that point.

The FAA issued a temporary extension for ASAP in February, and again in June... but the writing was on the wall. On Monday, ASAP passed quietly into the ether, with both sides blaming the other for their failure to come to terms.

American pilot Billy Nolen termed the loss of ASAP "sad and incomprehensible." Alas, that was one of the more measured responses to the program's lapse.

"The APA's willingness to discard a 14-year program that has done so much for our pilots, our airline and our industry is impossible to understand," said American spokeswoman Tami McLallen.

In response, APA officials slammed the pettiness of American officials. "Management, in this case, flight department management, has lost the trust of its pilots," union leaders said in an email to pilots. "It is that simple."

ASAP is but the latest casualty of the oil-and-water relationship between American executives and its pilots. Basic civility checked out a while ago... as evidenced by last month's suspension of an American Airlines pilot for allegedly taxiing too slowly at Dallas/Fort Worth International, to the consternation of an American flight-system manager who was in the cockpit of the jet trailing.

Last year, American's plans to start service between DFW and China were thwarted, after the union insisted on an outbound stop at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport to change flight crews, thus keeping total time for flight crews under the contract-mandated 16 hours. American would not budge on a union proposal to extend the limit, in exchange for certain concessions... a tactic Gerard Arpey, CEO of American parent company AMR, later conceded was a miscalculation on the airline's part.

Contract talks between the two sides have dragged on for two years, with no progress. American says it has no extra money to give pilots; the union responds the airline could free up those funds, if only it would stop awarding AMR managers and executives with lucrative bonuses... even as the carrier continues to hemorrhage cash.

The latest victim to the stalled talks may be American's proposal to form a trans-Atlantic alliance with British Airways and Spain's Iberia. Pilots have opposed American's bid for anti-trust immunity in the deal.

"Given closer arrangements now being forged between Delta and Northwest, and Continental and United, (American) would be strategically wounded if labor is successful at thwarting" the alliance, wrote Credit Suisse analyst Daniel McKenzie in a note to investors, according to the Star-Telegram.

FMI: www.aa.com, www.alliedpilots.org, www.faa.gov