APA News Digest

March 8, 2024

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In This Edition ...

Majority of Members Happy with Contract and APA

Using statistically valid random sampling across all bid statuses to ensure accuracy, the University of New Hampshire interviewed several hundred APA members between Feb. 5 and Feb. 16. During a special Board of Directors meeting conducted via Zoom today, pollster Phil Comstock summarized the interview results:

  • 87 percent of respondents rated their current pilot contract as “good” or “very good.”
  • 65 percent of respondents rated APA’s effort during Section 6 negotiations as “good” or “very good.”
  • 60 percent of respondents had a “positive” or “very positive” view of APA.

Click here to download a copy of the executive summary of the poll.

A recording of Mr. Comstock’s briefing to the Board of Directors will be posted soon at AlliedPilots.org/Videos.

American Orders Limited to Narrowbody and Regional Aircraft

On Monday, American Airlines management announced new mainline narrowbody and regional airline aircraft orders, including 85 Airbus A321neo, 85 Boeing 737 MAX 10, and 90 Embraer E175 aircraft. The orders include options and purchase rights for an additional 193 aircraft. Despite what some media outlets speculated last week, management’s announcement did NOT include any additional widebody aircraft.

Your Scope and SMART (Seniority, Merger, and Retirement Transition Ad Hoc) Committees will continue to analyze the details of Monday’s announcement to ensure that any actions taken by management are compliant with our Collective Bargaining Agreement, to include but not limited to our Scope provisions. Additionally, your Training Committee will closely monitor any potential new requirements that may impact how pilots are trained on variants of future aircraft.

Mainline Fleet Total and Widebody Percentage Comparison

The following is based on the most recent filings by American, Delta, and United.

Total Mainline Fleet

 202320242025
American9659941,029
Delta9581,0041,065
United9451,0331,097


Percentage of Widebody Aircraft to Mainline Fleet

 202320242025
American13.1%13.3%13.3%
Delta16.9%17.5%17.6%
United23.3%22.5%23.4%

Analysts React to AAL’s Investor Day

Management announced its new aircraft order immediately before hosting the company’s first Investor Day in seven years. Airline analysts, investors and the media were invited to New York to hear about management’s plans for American Airlines.

Here is the updated aircraft delivery schedule management filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission:

The following comments are excerpted from the notes that Wall Street analysts provided to investors:

JP Morgan

  • “American … leaned more heavily than we anticipated into smaller market opportunities, which was obviously emphasized by the announced E175 order.”
  • “Smaller, regional markets unexpectedly received disproportionate emphasis relative to both what we expected and versus what we typically hear from Delta and United.”
  • “Note that as part of the agreement with Boeing, AAL negotiated financial protection given MAX 10 certification uncertainty as well as 321 neo options that could be exercised if Boeing fails to deliver as scheduled.”

TD Cowen

  • “American set targets through 2026 for EBITDAR margins and FCF, as well as a longer- term debt paydown goal. The airline aims to expand adjusted EBITDAR margins from 14% in 2024 to a range of 15% to 18% in 2026, generate FCF of over $3bn in 2026, and reduce total debt below $35bn by year-end 2028. Management estimates that every 1pt of EBITDAR margin improvement drives $500 MM in FCF.”
  • “Investors we spoke with were encouraged, but wanted more detail quantifying specific revenue and cost drivers.”
  • “Fleet Flexibility. American is excited about the long-haul opportunities it will have as it adds 787s and A321XLRs into its fleet. The team can pivot each aircraft type between various markets depending on demand and seasonality. For example, it can fly its 787s over the Atlantic in the summer and then to LatAm in the winter months. Its large regional fleet allows it to connect smaller markets to its hubs as its 76-seat RJs have a 60% cost advantage vs mainline narrowbodies.”

Melius

  • “American’s margin shortfall to the industry has been more of a revenue problem and that’s where the focus is shifting with an emphasis on connectivity, premium products, and loyalty, all of which are supportive of margin improvement. What is apparent now is the company very much knows who they are, laying out achievable targets to change the perception of the company by the investment community.”
  • “Productivity will be very interesting to follow as we’ve yet to see it materialize since the return of travel.”
  • “It seems unlikely you walked away from the investor day blown away as the messaging here was more evolutionary than revolutionary.”

Click here to review the Investor Day recording and supporting materials.

FAA Needs “Boots on the Ground” at Maintenance Facilities

On Thursday, a Boeing 777 operated by United Airlines lost a wheel shortly after it took off from SFO. CNBC’s Last Call then asked APA spokesman CA Dennis Tajer to discuss the latest in a series of troubling incidents for Boeing.

“We’ve implored the FAA to put boots on the ground — like they did with Boeing — with the airlines, to include their maintenance shops,” CA Tajer said.

After host Brian Sullivan said, “It was a miracle that nobody was injured,” CA Tajer noted that “miracle” was also used to describe the lack of injuries on the Alaska Airlines 737 that lost a door plug during a January flight.

“We’ve got to stop counting on miracles and be the creator of a safe industry, and that starts on the assembly-line floor, out to the maintenance shops, and on my flight deck,” he said.

HBO’s John Oliver Skewers Boeing

Finding yourself featured in the main story on HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver is rarely good news. This week, it was Boeing’s turn.

This irreverent but thoroughly researched breakdown of Boeing’s recent issues includes archival footage of former APA President CA Dan Carey plus archival audio of former APA Safety Committee Chair CA Mike Michaelis and current APA Safety Committee Chair CA Todd Wissing.

Remember to Account for Daylight Saving Time

This is a new message from the APA Flight Time/Duty Time Committee.

At 0200 on March 10, most of the United States will transition from Standard Time to Daylight Saving Time. Because we are “springing forward,” this is the one that can cause an issue with regulatory rest periods. While FOS is properly programmed to account for this change, it pays to be aware of our own legalities in the event of a data entry error or FOS outage. When confirming FAR or contractual rest periods that commence prior to the time change and end after, remember to account for the loss of one hour due to the setting forward of the clocks in those locations that observe DST.

Learning and Improvement Team Coming to ORD

This is a new message from the APA Safety Committee.

Members of the AA/APA Learning and Improvement Team will be at ORD on Sunday, March 10, and Monday, March 11, to discuss how you, the members of APA, keep operations safe at this challenging airport. LIT would love to hear from any pilot transiting ORD on those days, ORD-based or not.

LIT navigators, in uniform and wearing APA safety lanyards, will be asking pilots questions about ORD operations. Additionally, navigators can also be located in the following areas:

  • At the center of the “Y” near K4
  • The hallway between H and K
  • Splitting time between ops and the “Y” at the end of K (near K12)
  • Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, or the food court

Thank you for your participation, and we look forward to talking with you.

Make Plans to Join Us at Sun ’n Fun

This is a repeated message from the APA Family Awareness Committee.

CA Tim Dick, FO Natalie Anagnostou, FO Tim Jackson, CA Jerry Gemma, and FO Melissa Monahan

The Sun ’n Fun Aerospace Expo, the biggest and best airshow in the southeastern United States, is coming up in April. We plan to serve two lunches and two dinners in our air-conditioned flightline chalet with private restrooms. Please bring your family!

The code for discounted tickets is APA995.

Besides the food and fellowship, there will be significant information passed along. You can expect to break bread with APA’s elected officials as well as volunteers from national committees.

As you make plans to join us in Lakeland, Fla., please RSVP for each meal separately so we can be sure to order enough food.

Pigs of the Week

APA commends American Airlines’ hardworking aircraft maintenance technicians for their outstanding work. We believe they are the best in the business. When repetitive problems do arise, they’re often due to managerial decisions that fail to properly prioritize tasks and to management’s decision to outsource a significant portion of the airline’s maintenance to offshore, third-party repair stations.

  • Since Jan. 14, the left engine thrust reverser on A321 aircraft 975 has been written up 11 times, has been on MEL four times, and has been out of service eight times. At the time of this writing, it remained on MEL.
  • UPDATE: Since Feb. 6, B737 aircraft 3NG has been written up 15 times for cabin pressurization, has been on MEL three times, and has been out of service seven times. It failed a functional check flight on March 7. At the time of this writing, it was out of service and restricted to Class 1 maintenance stations.

APA Welcomes New Pilots

This is a new message from the APA Membership Committee.

Click the image for a closer look.

The APA Membership Committee welcomed the following pilots during a casual dinner on March 5: Eric Abordo, Kevin Ardis, Justin Bradford, Ryan Brenner, Joseph Brown, Jason Bushnell, Jacob Cummins, Charles Eller Jr., Andres Galvez, Ryan Games, Robert Geiger, Matthew Gray, Gray Guthrie, Ethan Hall, Thomas Hudson II, Steven Huls, Jermaine Jackson, Andrew Kenny, Dmitriy Kheyfets, Joseph Lamb, Ashley Lampe, Kyle Luken, Ross Myers, Holden Nardini, Derek Needham, Matthew Neff, William Nichol, Rodney Nickel, Charles Ozanian, Brian Radler, Alex Rossmanith, Travis Sayers, Dustin Schraud, Richard Selby, Mason Sherwood, Gregory Sivers, James Taylor, Ryan Thomas, Jordan Urbanczuk, Austin Vance, Jason Whitehead, Bradly Winans, and Michael Yim.

APA Welcomes Captains’ Leadership Class

This is a new message from the APA Membership Committee.

Click the image for a closer look.

On March 6, the APA Membership Committee hosted a casual dinner for the following pilots who were in Fort Worth for American Airlines’ Professionalism, Leadership, and Mentoring class: Thomas Anderson, James Ashworth, Troy Buford, Frank Concepcion, Joshua Daneault, Alex Evans, Rondeau Flynn, Zachary Green, Richard Healey, Robert Leblanc, Michael McElveen, Keith McRonald, Dennis Meyer, David Piotrowski, Matthew Poisson, Kenneth Quinlan III, Eric Robbins, Jason Schwecke, and Don Smith Jr.

Domicile Events

Click the image for a closer look.

More than 50 ORD pilots and guests enjoyed a Chicago Blackhawks hockey game last Saturday.

Visit AlliedPilots.org/Calendar to RSVP for any of these upcoming domicile events:

  • DCA: Retirement Party on June 29
  • DFW: Pilots For Kids Golf Tournament on May 20; Texas Rangers game on Aug. 6
  • LAX: Family Awareness lunches at MYF on March 12 and April 9; Family Awareness event at Camas Airport on April 23; Family Awareness event at Boeing Museum of Flight on April 24; Family Awareness event at Rowland Freedom Center on April 25; Retirement Party on April 27
  • LGA: New York Mets game on Sept. 2
  • MIA: MSY Crawfish Boil on April 6
  • ORD: Retirement Party on May 4

Week in Review

Here are several recent messages you may have missed.

Are You Willing to Serve?

Each of these national committees or subcommittees has the indicated number of vacancies:

  • Aeromedical Committee (2)
    • Disabled Pilot Awareness Subcommittee (3)
    • Human Intervention Motivation Study Subcommittee (1)
    • Pilot Occupational Health Subcommittee (2)
    • Project Wingman Subcommittee (3)
  • Captain’s Authority Committee (2)
  • Communications Committee (0)
    • National Communications Network (7)
  • Flight Time/Duty Time Committee (1)
  • Grey Eagles Liaison Committee (1)
  • Jumpseat/Non-Rev Committee (1)
  • Scheduling Committee (5)
  • Training Committee (4)
    • Checkmate (1 on 777)

If you would like to serve on one or more of these committees, visit the Member Engagement Portal.

Professional Standards FAQs

Does Professional Standards only handle pilot-to-pilot issues?
No! We support our pilots in the performance of their duties and interaction with many other entities. Almost every person with whom a pilot engages during day-to-day operations enjoys union representation. We have established relationships for working through issues with gate agents (CWA/IBT), flight attendants (APFA), dispatchers (PAFCA), and maintenance (TWU/IAM). In addition, we also work closely with ALPA, NATCA (air traffic controllers), SWAPA, USAOA (Cathay Pacific), and all of our regional carriers. In collaboration with the APA Jumpseat/Non-Rev committee, we also handle cases that arise between pilots of other carriers. In a nutshell: if you face a challenge with another employee, let us be your first call.

To read all of the FAQs, click here.

Professional Standards’ 24/7 hotline: 817-402-2181

Retirement Seminar Scheduled for April 3

American Airlines and APA will host a retirement information session from 1000 to 1200 Central on April 3 via Microsoft Teams. Future retirees are encouraged to attend. To ensure you get the most out of this seminar, click here to submit your questions in advance.

How to log into the Microsoft Teams meeting:

  1. Click here from any device with Wi-Fi or cellular service.
  2. Enter the meeting ID: 283 423 147 987
  3. Enter the meeting passcode: hnkJKH
  4. Click “Join a meeting.”

Please note the speakers will be sharing their screens, so the recommendation is to use a device where you can view the presentations.

If You’re 50, Join The Grey Eagles

Are you a pilot for American Airlines, at least age 50, active or retired? Please join The Grey Eagles for food, fun, and fellowship. We offer cruises, conventions, monthly luncheons, retirement dinners, professional mentoring, and assistance to surviving spouses – all for a one-time lifetime fee.

Pilot Job Fairs and Future Pilot Seminars

Future & Active Pilot Advisors’ next Pilot Job Fair and Future Pilot Seminar are scheduled for March 15 at SAN followed by April 26 at ATL. Click here for more information.

Industry News

For more about what’s happening in the industry, be sure to visit the Industry News page on AlliedPilots.org.

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