American Airlines Pilots Move Ahead With Potential Air Line Pilots Association Merger

25.08.2023 - 13:45 / skift.com / Delta Air Lines / United Airlines / Delta Air-Lines / Airlines

Some pilots at American Airlines want to leave their union, the Allied Pilots Association, and link up with the largest pilots union, the Air Line Pilots Association. They will present their case to the Allied Pilots Association board in June, setting up a potential merger or vote on union representation at the largest U.S. airline.

Since November, a five-pilot committee of the APA, which represents the 15,000 American pilots at American, has explored whether to merge with ALPA, which represents 67,000 pilots at 39 U.S. and Canadian airlines. ALPA’s membership includes crew members at American’s biggest competitors, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines. That committee recently said that, so far, it has not found any roadblocks to a merger between the two airline pilot unions.

But the fate of any potential union merger remains unclear.

“Preliminarily, we have not found any major concerns that would lead us to recommend against the board doing full due diligence by proceeding to Phase 2,” the committee reported to the APA board earlier in April. The board will decide what to do next at a June 1 meeting.

A group of APA members called AA Pilots for ALPA is advocating for a merger. A posting on the group’s website declares: “The pilots of American Airlines need union representation with the resources worthy of the largest airline in the U.S. A merger between APA and ALPA will provide our elected union representatives with the training, tools, and support they need to successfully advocate for our pilots.”

In an email Friday, the group said: “We are encouraged by the recent report by the APA-ALPA merger exploratory committee that stated they are at a unanimous consensus to recommend the APA Board of Directors (BOD) negotiate a merger agreement for BOD and AA pilot consideration by forming the APA-ALPA merger negotiation committee. We believe that a merged APA-ALPA is the preferred way to complete this process.”

At the June meeting, merger advocates will present their case to APA’s 20-member board, which has two members from each of American’s 10 pilot domiciles. The board could decide then to begin its own exploration of a merger. Eventually, a merger would require approval of the board, and a vote by APA members.

For the moment, it’s hard to say whether American pilots want to join ALPA. APA contracted with the University of New Hampshire to poll members last September and October. The poll asked: “To what extent do you favor or oppose the APA board of directors exploring a possible merger with ALPA?” Responses came in from 53 percent of American’s pilots. Of those, about 67 percent said they strongly favored or mostly favored exploring a merger, while 33 percent said they were neutral, mostly opposed or