AA767AV8TOR
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This is our careers if UAL’s management pulls this off!
AA767AV8TOR
www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-mon-outsourcing-pilots-unitemar16,0,5199687.story
chicagotribune.com
MONDAY FOCUS TRAVEL AND TOURISM
Clipping union's wings
United-Aer Lingus plan to outsource pilots on overseas flight
By Julie Johnsson Tribune reporter March 16, 2009. United Airlines is preparing to outsource some international flying, a move likely to spark an uproar as the carrier opens contract talks with its pilots April 9.
Other U.S. carriers and their unions are closely watching a venture being created by Chicago-based United and Aer Lingus that will use non-union crews on new flights from Washington-Dulles International Airport to Madrid, set to begin in March 2010. The carriers plan to add service to two other cities in 2011.
United will provide marketing muscle to the partnership as well as passengers from Dulles, its second-largest hub. The Irish carrier will contribute three new Airbus A330 jets to the Europe-based venture and recruit pilots who aren't employees of either airline to fly them.
If the venture is successful, it could be a model for other carriers to outsource trans-Atlantic flying, cutting labor costs and potentially undermining unionized pilots, a group with the greatest clout over airline operations, analysts said. It also could encourage United to seek broader partnerships with larger European players, such as Germany's Lufthansa.
Some aviation observers question how such potentially contentious and structurally awkward arrangements are financially feasible.
"It's hard to imagine how this makes money," said aviation consultant Robert Mann. He described the labor issues it raises as "incendiary" to airline workers.
The venture also raises questions about safety, since it's unclear who would regulate an airline not based in the home country of a parent carrier. U.S. limits on foreign ownership would not apply either, because the partnership would be based overseas.
"The regulatory framework isn't as airtight as it should be on these issues," said Brian Havel, associate dean and director of the International Aviation Law Institute at DePaul University's College of Law. "It's an entirely unintended and brilliant consequence of Open Skies," a 2008 trade agreement that allows European and U.S. carriers to offer international flights between those regions.
United thinks the model is viable and will expand its global reach.
"Madrid is a market we would not be able to serve on our own," United spokeswoman Jean Medina said.
She dismissed any suggestion that underqualified pilots would be at the controls of the flights.
"We and all of our partners meet or exceed all FAA requirements for flying commercial aircraft," Medina said.
The nation's No. 3 carrier also won't rule out exploring similar partnerships with other European carriers.
"We will continue to look for opportunities to profitably expand our international network using our own aircraft as well as through code-sharing arrangements," Medina said.
United's pilots have the contractual right to handle its flying. But one exception to this rule, negotiated during United's three-year bankruptcy, applies to joint ventures formed by United and Star Alliance partners, such as Aer Lingus.
United's pilots union is furious with the setup and has formed an alliance with counterparts at Aer Lingus to fight it.
"It's a major slap to employees," said Jay Heppner, a Boeing 777 captain for United and spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association.
Major airlines worldwide outsource flying to smaller cities to regional carriers, which tend to hire pilots at the beginning of their careers to fly turbo-props or jets with fewer than 100 seats.
And British Airways last year spun off OpenSkies, a subsidiary that uses new hires rather than unionized employees to man its all-business-class flights between New York and Paris and Amsterdam.
American Airlines pilots, who also are embroiled in contract talks, are watching the new ventures with concern.
"It does look like carriers are probing at ways to get around unionized pilots on their seniority lists," said Gregg Overman, spokesman for the union. "Clearly, we have huge problems with that."
jjohnsson@tribune.com
AA767AV8TOR
www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-mon-outsourcing-pilots-unitemar16,0,5199687.story
chicagotribune.com
MONDAY FOCUS TRAVEL AND TOURISM
Clipping union's wings
United-Aer Lingus plan to outsource pilots on overseas flight
By Julie Johnsson Tribune reporter March 16, 2009. United Airlines is preparing to outsource some international flying, a move likely to spark an uproar as the carrier opens contract talks with its pilots April 9.
Other U.S. carriers and their unions are closely watching a venture being created by Chicago-based United and Aer Lingus that will use non-union crews on new flights from Washington-Dulles International Airport to Madrid, set to begin in March 2010. The carriers plan to add service to two other cities in 2011.
United will provide marketing muscle to the partnership as well as passengers from Dulles, its second-largest hub. The Irish carrier will contribute three new Airbus A330 jets to the Europe-based venture and recruit pilots who aren't employees of either airline to fly them.
If the venture is successful, it could be a model for other carriers to outsource trans-Atlantic flying, cutting labor costs and potentially undermining unionized pilots, a group with the greatest clout over airline operations, analysts said. It also could encourage United to seek broader partnerships with larger European players, such as Germany's Lufthansa.
Some aviation observers question how such potentially contentious and structurally awkward arrangements are financially feasible.
"It's hard to imagine how this makes money," said aviation consultant Robert Mann. He described the labor issues it raises as "incendiary" to airline workers.
The venture also raises questions about safety, since it's unclear who would regulate an airline not based in the home country of a parent carrier. U.S. limits on foreign ownership would not apply either, because the partnership would be based overseas.
"The regulatory framework isn't as airtight as it should be on these issues," said Brian Havel, associate dean and director of the International Aviation Law Institute at DePaul University's College of Law. "It's an entirely unintended and brilliant consequence of Open Skies," a 2008 trade agreement that allows European and U.S. carriers to offer international flights between those regions.
United thinks the model is viable and will expand its global reach.
"Madrid is a market we would not be able to serve on our own," United spokeswoman Jean Medina said.
She dismissed any suggestion that underqualified pilots would be at the controls of the flights.
"We and all of our partners meet or exceed all FAA requirements for flying commercial aircraft," Medina said.
The nation's No. 3 carrier also won't rule out exploring similar partnerships with other European carriers.
"We will continue to look for opportunities to profitably expand our international network using our own aircraft as well as through code-sharing arrangements," Medina said.
United's pilots have the contractual right to handle its flying. But one exception to this rule, negotiated during United's three-year bankruptcy, applies to joint ventures formed by United and Star Alliance partners, such as Aer Lingus.
United's pilots union is furious with the setup and has formed an alliance with counterparts at Aer Lingus to fight it.
"It's a major slap to employees," said Jay Heppner, a Boeing 777 captain for United and spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association.
Major airlines worldwide outsource flying to smaller cities to regional carriers, which tend to hire pilots at the beginning of their careers to fly turbo-props or jets with fewer than 100 seats.
And British Airways last year spun off OpenSkies, a subsidiary that uses new hires rather than unionized employees to man its all-business-class flights between New York and Paris and Amsterdam.
American Airlines pilots, who also are embroiled in contract talks, are watching the new ventures with concern.
"It does look like carriers are probing at ways to get around unionized pilots on their seniority lists," said Gregg Overman, spokesman for the union. "Clearly, we have huge problems with that."
jjohnsson@tribune.com
