Envoy Air (MQ, Dallas/Fort Worth) management has reopened dialogue with its pilots' union in a bid to secure the American Airlines (AA, Dallas/Fort Worth) subsidiary's future. According to The Source, Bill Sprague, the chairman of the Envoy chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), told the pilot corps that management had recently approached his union with a proposal that took pilots' concerns into consideration.
“The negotiating committee presented a proposal based on pilots’ ideas and expectations and we continue to work on ideas and concepts to keep discussions moving forward," Sprague's letter read. “Core issues still requiring favorable solutions for our pilots include the fleet plan, the nature of any longevity pay step caps and the bankruptcy amendment round credit.”
A majority of Envoy's 2'700 pilots rejected a proposed new 10 year labour contract in March which would have frozen pay scales until 2018, eliminated profit-sharing and increased health-care costs. In return, American would have committed its incoming fleet of E175s to the carrier (which have now gone to Compass Airlines (United States of America) (Minneapolis St. Paul International)) while at the same time assuring American Eagle Airlines (Dallas/Fort Worth) (as Envoy was then known) pilots of improved progression oppurtunities to the mainline American Airlines' fleet.
As a consequence of the contract's rejection, Envoy announced it would park fifty-nine E140s and transfer forty-seven CRJ700s to another third-party regional carrier operating under the "American Eagle" brand.
In light of the recent informal talks, American says it is still keen to place some of its Embraer (EMB, São José dos Campos U.E. Stumpf International) EMB-175s with Envoy but could only do so if a consensus with Envoy pilots is reached.
