![]() Stuart Morrison, chairman of the Spirit ALPA pilot group. In fact, no one is more committed to the success of Spirit Airlines than our pilots, and it’s time for management to come to the table prepared to negotiate a contract that fairly reflects that commitment,” said Capt. “Spirit pilots absolutely do not want to go on strike. WASHINGTON, D.C.-Spirit Airlines pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA), sent a strong message to their airline’s management team with a 100 percent vote to conduct a lawful strike once they are released from negotiations by the National Mediation Board (NMB). All Rights Reserved.Spirit Pilots Stand Ready to Walk Out if Negotiations Breakdown, Receive Federal Release Launch Informational Picketing Events to Show Resolve All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2019 and/or its affiliates. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc.2019. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. So there is an incentive for the airline to reach a deal with pilots that makes the union, and new hires, happy. To sustain that growth, it needs to keep hiring pilots - it added 430 in the last two years, an increase of more 40%. Its revenue was up 8% last year, while the number of passengers was up 20%. The airline did not respond to a request for comment on negotiations. "We expect the pilots to get a substantial increase and we expect to get an improvement in work rules that are necessary and are typical across the industry," said CEO Robert Fornaro when speaking to investors in February. The company says its offer would increase pilot pay by 30% immediately, but it would increase costs by only $440 million over the same five years.Īnd the company says it can only afford that 30% wage offer if it gets changes in work rules to use pilots more efficiently. Spirit estimates the union's most recent demand would raise its labor costs by $1.9 billion over the course of five years. The company says it can't afford what the pilots want. ![]() And an experienced Spirit pilot would make 50% more at a large carrier. The $39,000 salary is about half of what large carriers such as United ( UAL), American ( AAL) and Delta ( DAL) pay. Spirit ( SAVE) pays about $39,000 a year to starting co-pilots and up to $189,000 for an experienced captain, according to Kit Darby, an pilot compensation expert. He said Spirit has made more than $642 million in net profits since the two sides started negotiations in 2015. "While pilots at comparable airlines have seen substantial improvements in compensation, our pilots continue to work under a seven-year old agreement that puts us well below the industry-standard," said Stuart Morrison, a Spirit captain and union officer. ![]() And they have been holding pickets to protests recently the lack of progress on a contract. The pilots went on strike for five days in 2010, the most recent strike at a U.S. The history of labor relations between Spirit and the union is bad. Related: Spirit cancels flight, passenger brawl breaks out If Spirit cancels, they've got a flight next Tuesday and it's full," said Boyd. "If United cancels, they have eight more flights to get passengers on. That's what Spirit says its pilots are doing, although the union denies it is urging members not to accept assignments.Ī low-cost carrier like Spirit is even more vulnerable to that kind of pressure tactic because of its more limited schedule, said Mike Boyd, an airline consultant. Pilots may refuse to take the extra flights an airline needs to operate smoothly. Airline customers have long been vulnerable to bad labor relations at airlines.
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