Allied Pilots Association

Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, near Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, the Allied Pilots Association (APA) serves as the certified collective bargaining agent for the 16,000 professional pilots who fly for American Airlines. APA was founded in 1963 and is the largest independent pilots’ union in the world. APA provides a broad range of representation services for its members and devotes more than 20 percent of its dues income to support aviation safety.

HEADLINES

APA in the News

Forbes, Nov. 1


Maybe JetBlue can still revive American Airlines in New York

APA spokesman Capt. Dennis Tajer told Forbes the association would be more open to a new Northeast Alliance between American and JetBlue if it would break up “the Delta and United duopoly in New York.” He said the original Northeast Alliance was not “metal neutral” because it provided more flying to JetBlue pilots. “If American gets feed traffic, we want to make sure that American pilots also get some of that feed flying.” Read the article …

 

The Washington Post, Oct. 9


Turkish Airlines pilot dies while flying plane from Seattle

Airliners are required to operate with two pilots on board, which provides a backstop when one of them is incapacitated. “Once again, life will remind us that having just one pilot in the cockpit is inviting a deep risk to every passenger on the airplane,” APA spokesman Capt. Dennis Tajer told The Washington Post. “You don’t have to be a pilot to understand how important is to have a human backup.” Read the article ...

 

KIRO-FM, Oct. 8


Pilots association: Plane safety on the line with Boeing contract

APA spokesman Capt. Dennis Tajer was in Washington state to support the striking Boeing employees represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. “I want this contract settled so that we know we have the proper safety margin to fly our passengers,” he told KIRO-FM. “Whenever there’s a change at Boeing, the IAM is not allowed in the process to discuss that with Boeing management. They’re a team. It’s a symphony of safety, just like at the airlines. Unions work with the management teams to ensure that our passengers are safe.” Read the article ...

 

WHAT'S HAPPENING

APA Public Statements

First Officer Nick Silva, APA President

First Officer Nick Silva, APA President Today, in compliance with the APA Constitution and Bylaws, Article IV, Section 3.C, your Board of Directors elected First Officer Nick Silva to serve as APA President for the remainder of the current term ending June 30, 2025. The upcoming National Officer elections will take place in accordance with a schedule established by the Secretary-Treasurer as set forth in APA C&B Article IX, Section 2.A. We would like to thank all those who expressed their willingness to be considered for election – we are fortunate to have had many highly qualified members who were willing to step up to serve the membership. We look forward to working with President Silva on behalf of each of you, our membership. In Unity, CA Paul McFarland, BOS Chair CA Gemma Meehan, BOS Vice Chair CA Dan Scola, CLT Chair CA Erik DeWinne, CLT Vice Chair CA Chris Wachter, DCA Chair CA Tom Lawler, DCA Vice Chair CA Brian Smith, DFW Chair FO Jason Gustin, DFW Vice Chair CA Bill Evans, LAX Chair CA Tim Dick, LAX Vice Chair CA Lawrence Cutler, LGA Chair CA Jim Scanlan, LGA Vice Chair CA Thomas Copeland, MIA Chair CA Anne Witcher, MIA Vice Chair CA Wes Smith, ORD Chair FO Paul Meyers, ORD Vice Chair FO Mike Drost, PHL Chair CA Brian Sweep, PHL Vice Chair CA Mike Saracino, PHX Chair CA Jeremy Ryder, PHX Vice Chair

A Change in Leadership

A Change in Leadership Today, pursuant to the APA Constitution and Bylaws, Article IV, Section 5, Paragraph B, the Board of Directors recalled the APA President. The result of the recorded vote was 15-5. We encourage the membership to review today’s discussion and debate, which was held almost entirely in open session. The recording will be posted to AlliedPilots.org/Videos as soon as possible. The Board will fill the vacancy in accordance with C&B Article IV, Section 3, Paragraph C, before the conclusion of the Fall Board Meeting. In accordance with C&B Article IV, Section 4, Paragraph B, the Vice President will perform the duties of the President until such time as the vacancy has been filled. We thank CA Sicher for his service to our membership. In Unity, The APA Board of Directors

APA Network Outages

APA Network Outages Earlier today, APA’s internet access was disrupted due to a work crew with outside vendor Lumen inadvertently severing a fiber optic cable. As a result of this disruption, APA was unable to update AlliedPilots.org, and we have also been unable to send and receive individual emails and membership updates from APA HQ. While Lumen has restored connectivity through temporary measures, the vendor will be undertaking a longer-term repair that will likely result in intermittent outages. Thank you for your patience and understanding while Lumen fully corrects this situation.

Reflecting on Labor Day

Reflecting on Labor Day We celebrate Labor Day each year to honor the efforts of our nation’s workers. The three-day holiday weekend traditionally marks the end of summer, it’s one of the year’s busiest travel periods, and it’s an opportunity to get together with family and friends if you’re fortunate enough to have the time off. It also provides an opportunity to reflect on the labor movement itself. One of the foundational elements of organized labor has always been the emphasis on building membership unity. The familiar adage “united we stand, divided we fall” neatly sums up the task unions face – unifying members to achieve their aims. As we approached the end game in Section 6 negotiations last year, the APA membership voted overwhelmingly in favor of authorizing a strike if we couldn’t reach a satisfactory agreement with management at the bargaining table. Shortly thereafter, 95% of our pilots participated in the vote to ratify our new contract, securing $9.6 billion in additional value versus the previous agreement. As that recent experience demonstrated, unity pays, and I encourage everyone to keep that in mind considering the contract enables APA and management to begin the next round of Section 6 bargaining in November 2026 – just over two years from now. It’s in our best interests to go into negotiations as a strongly unified pilot group. That’s how we’re going to get the contractual improvements we want and need sooner rather than later. Unity means looking after our own, and my guess is we already do more of that than we might realize. Think of it this way: If you have a little brother, chances are you pushed him around when you were kids, but when someone else did, you stood up for him. Whatever our path to American Airlines – whether you learned to fly in a T-6 in the military or in a Cessna 172 at your local mom-and-pop flight school – each of us worked hard to get here, and we all belong here. We’ve all endured check rides that left us sweating, and we’ve all flown trips we don’t care to repeat. Let’s set aside whatever perceived differences we may have and focus on what we have in common. We all want to enjoy full, rewarding careers as American Airlines pilots doing something that very few other people in the world know how to do, and membership unity is one of the keys to accomplishing that. Stay safe, enjoy the holiday, and keep looking out for one another. In Unity, CA Ed Sicher APA President

APA’s Legislative Priorities

APA makes its voice heard on Capitol Hill.

Video Highlight

“We Are Proud”

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