American Eagle Airlines (Dallas/Fort Worth) pilots have rejected a concessionary contract proposed by American Airlines (AA, Dallas/Fort Worth) Group (AAG) following a vote held last week. The approval of the contract was a precondition to a proposal by American involving the re-equipping of American Eagle (soon to become Envoy Air (MQ, Dallas/Fort Worth)) with newer E175s.
“Despite threats from AAG management that they would seek other express carriers to conduct our flying, today’s vote demonstrates that the demands for contract concessions were not acceptable. Today’s vote clearly shows that pilots can, and will, vote against any agreement that is not in their best interests,” said Bill Sprague, chairman of the Eagle Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) Master Executive Council.
Among the other proposed contract changes were a combination of pay freezes, reductions in per diem, and increased healthcare costs. The union said the concessions were in addition to the USD43million in cuts the pilots agreed to with AA during its bankruptcy last year.
According to Reuters, following the vote, American Eagle President Pedro Fabregas said the carrier would shrink its fleet and "will need to make appropriate changes" to bring down costs.
"American has informed us it will award the flying of the Embraer 175s to another regional carrier or several other carriers in the near future," he told staff in a letter.
Eagle's fleet includes forty-seven CRJ700s, fifty-nine E140s and 118 E145s.
It has been speculated that Republic Airlines (Indianapolis International) would be the recipient of the new Embraer (EMB, São José dos Campos U.E. Stumpf International) machines, of which sixty have been ordered.
