"FAA said Oct. 31 that it would allocate ATA Airlines’ 14 New York LaGuardia slots to any air carrier that acquires the airline’s business as a whole , which might boost ATA’s efforts to find a buyer"
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?id=news/ATA110308.xml&headline=Certain%20ATA%20Bidders%20Could%20Keep%20LGA%20Slots&channel=comm
Unfortunately, the same thing will probably happen to the ATA pilots (ALPA) that happened to the Independence pilots (ALPA). Remember that when NWA wanted to start Compass they purchased the Independence operating certificate, headquarters, and continued to operate an Independence CRJ with Independence management pilots to keep the certificate alive. They even kept the Independence FAA required management positions. Why did ALPA not fight to bring the pilots with the airline (from Independence to Compass)?
I think this is a wake up call to all pilot groups that they need to revise their union contracts to reflect better successorship language. All union contracts should make it clear that purchasing the operating certificate is automatically considered a purchase of the airline for purposes of acquiring the pilot group. Obviously this should be just one of many situations that trigger acquisition of a pilot group.
We are in a world where most airplanes, gates, and other assets are leased. So the fact that SWA does not want the ATA airplanes is irrelevant. If SWA wants the ATA operating certificate, they should be required to take the ATA pilots!
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?id=news/ATA110308.xml&headline=Certain%20ATA%20Bidders%20Could%20Keep%20LGA%20Slots&channel=comm
Unfortunately, the same thing will probably happen to the ATA pilots (ALPA) that happened to the Independence pilots (ALPA). Remember that when NWA wanted to start Compass they purchased the Independence operating certificate, headquarters, and continued to operate an Independence CRJ with Independence management pilots to keep the certificate alive. They even kept the Independence FAA required management positions. Why did ALPA not fight to bring the pilots with the airline (from Independence to Compass)?
I think this is a wake up call to all pilot groups that they need to revise their union contracts to reflect better successorship language. All union contracts should make it clear that purchasing the operating certificate is automatically considered a purchase of the airline for purposes of acquiring the pilot group. Obviously this should be just one of many situations that trigger acquisition of a pilot group.
We are in a world where most airplanes, gates, and other assets are leased. So the fact that SWA does not want the ATA airplanes is irrelevant. If SWA wants the ATA operating certificate, they should be required to take the ATA pilots!