Last Saturday marked US Airways’ third anniversary of not completing their merger with America West Airlines. You might have thought it was completed a long time ago, seeing that the planes are repainted in the decadent red-white-and blue, they’ve merged the route maps, America West’s website is non-existent. Although management says that the merger is ‘complete’, it does not necessarily mean that it has. What’s left…? The two separate pilot unions. The pilots in the west are separate from those in the east. Those in the west are still under their America West contract agreement, represented by the Air Lines Pilots Association (ALPA). The east pilots, with the old US Airways, are collectively represented by the US Airways Pilots Association (USAPA).
What is holding the merger of pilot groups? Simply put, the two groups cannot agree. USAPA pilots have been trying, for the past 3 years, to get the west pilots to split from the ALPA and join USAPA. However, the west pilots do not see the advantages of doing so. Pilots in the west get compensated higher and work under different rules. USAPA blames US Airways management for not properly dealing with the issue. ”What the Delta and Northwest managements did in just a couple of months, US Airways Management hasn’t been able to do in over three years. Management’s inability to complete the merger of US Airways and America West, coupled with their apparent focus on short term, quick-return management philosophies, is costing our Company in a big way,” says Stephen Bradford, President of USAPA.
Even on YouTube, you can search and find videos that are related to this dispute. Over a dozen videos show clips of bickering and disputes between the two pilot groups. ALPA has about half a dozen videos posted on why US Airways pilots shouldn’t chose USAPA, like this one.
From the looks of it, it seems like there is no end in sight to this issue. Management needs to step in and impose change / a merger between the two pilot groups.
Image: flickr.com
