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News from ALPA International |
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July 2, 2010—In This Issue:
Other Top News
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This Week’s Press Releases … |
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Capt. Duane Woerth |
ALPA Commends Administration’s Intent to Nominate
Woerth as Ambassador to ICAO
ALPA president Capt. John Prater issued a
statement after the announcement of President Barack
Obama’s intent to nominate Capt. Duane E. Woerth as
Ambassador, International Civil Aviation
Organization, Department of State.
Read more.Pinnacle, Mesaba, and Colgan Pilot Leaders
Express Optimism About Pinnacle Purchase of Mesaba
Pilot leaders at Pinnacle, Mesaba, and Colgan
Airlines responded to yesterday’s announcement of
Pinnacle Airline Corp.’s purchase of Mesaba Airlines
for $62 million.
Read more.
Trans States and Compass Pilot
Leaders Respond to Announced Sale
Pilot leaders at Trans States Airlines and Compass
Airlines responded to yesterday’s announcement of
the purchase of Compass Airlines by Trans States
Holdings.
Read more.
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All Furloughed ASA Pilots Recalled |
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The first and only pilot furlough in the 31-year
history of Atlantic Southeast Airlines has come to
an end. All furloughed ASA pilots have received
recall notices to return to work. Faced with the
effects of a deteriorating economy, ASA opted to
furlough 136 pilots in 2009. However, assigned block
hours from Delta have increased, creating the demand
for additional staffing.
ASA MEC chairman Capt. David Nieuwenhuis said,
“We’ve been working toward and hoping for this
positive news for months. Speaking on behalf of all
ASA pilots currently on the line, we are glad to
have our coworkers and friends back on the job.”
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ALPA Reps Talk Security with DHS Secretary |
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 ALPA
president Capt. John Prater had what he later described as a
“very positive” hour-long meeting with Janet Napolitano,
secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, at
DHS headquarters in Washington, D.C., on June 29. Joining
Prater were Capt. Robb Powers (Alaska), chairman of ALPA’s
National Security Committee, and Jim Andresakes, supervisor,
Aviation Security, of the ALPA Engineering and Air Safety
Department. Noah Kroloff, DHS chief of staff for policy, and
Art Macias, chief of staff, Office of the Administrator,
Transportation Security Administration (TSA), also
participated in the discussions.
The ALPA reps talked about the Association’s four
greatest concerns regarding airline and airport security:
the need for (1) improvements in the Federal Flight Deck
Officer (FFDO) program, (2) secondary cockpit barriers on
all passenger and all-cargo airliners, (3) transition to a
trust-based aviation security screening system, and (4)
improvements to security in the all-cargo domain that will
achieve one level of safety and security equal to that of
passenger airlines.
Regarding the FFDO program, Prater pointed out that the
program needs more money (ALPA has asked Congress to double
the program’s budget). He said the size and organization of
the inadequately staffed managerial structure that
administers the FFDO program also needs an overhaul. One
measure of the program’s budgetary woes is a recent slowdown
in the rate of acceptance of FFDO candidates into the
program.
(For more information, please click here.)
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Continental and United Express Pilots Steer in New Direction |
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ALPA pilot leaders from United Express and
Continental Express carriers, including Atlantic
Southeast, Colgan Air, CommutAir, ExpressJet, Mesa
Air Group, and Trans States, met this week in
Houston as part of a new joint standing committee to
discuss and develop plans, in the event the proposed
merger of Continental and United occurs. Specific
focus was on developing strategies to reshape the
fee-for-departure system for both carriers’ networks
and to help guide positive change for both regional
and mainline pilots. Discussion also surrounded
coordination of safety and training initiatives
(ASAP, FOQA, AQP), optimization of scope, and
enhancement of pilot career options across carriers
and networks. After reviewing the conditions at
each MEC, followed by an examination of system
operations within the Continental and United Express
networks, the pilots developed work groups to
address common goals and problems. These groups were
tasked with exploring the specified topics,
developing solutions, and reporting back to the
joint standing committee at future meetings.
After the meeting, members of the committee
issued the following statement: “We are at an
extraordinary crossroads for the future of
fee-for-departure carriers. While we learned from
watching the developments in the carrier network
that occurred after the Delta-Northwest merger, we
are still at the beginning stages of the
United-Continental merger. We have a singular
opportunity, if we can speak with one voice and
unity of purpose, to influence how management and
ALPA carriers will work in the new system. We see
this as the potential to significantly advance the
piloting profession, bring much-needed stability to
airline jobs and open up an expanded range of career
options for pilots, throughout all levels of the
mainline and regional carrier networks.”
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ALPA R&I Document Explains Health Care Plan Changes |
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Although President Obama signed the health care
reform legislation in March, questions remain about
the interpretation of the new laws and the timeline
for change. In recent months, the Internal Revenue
Service, the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits
Security Administration, and the Department of
Health and Human Services have jointly published
regulations, including the explanation of rules for
union-negotiated health care plans.
ALPA’s Retirement and Insurance Department on
June 29 issued an R&I Update that examines these new
rules and explains how they apply to different kinds
of collectively bargained plans. This information
revises the April 2010 R&I Update, which provided
the Health Care Reform Summary and Implementation
Update.
To read the June 29 R&I Update,
click here. (ALPA Members: please log onto the
ALPA members-only website to view this document).
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 On
July 1, 1950, the pilots of Los Angeles Airways joined ALPA, making them the
first helicopter pilots to become members. Los Angeles Airways offered service
to area airports as well as to Disneyland from Los Angeles International
Airport.
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Feedback & E-mail Address Changes |
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| Questions or comments on this FastRead? Give us your feedback at
communications@alpa.org. If you have moved or changed your ISP or e-mail
address, please update your ALPA records. If you don’t, you
will no longer receive the ALPA FastRead and other e-mail bulletins and notices,
and once your postal forwarding order expires, you’ll no longer receive the
magazine and other ALPA mail. You can do it yourself by going to
www.alpa.org and logging
in. Go to “My ALPA” in the menu at the top of the page, and from there, you’ll be
instructed how to make the necessary changes. If you don’t have access to the
members-only section of
www.alpa.org, you can
e-mail your requests by sending them to
membership@alpa.org. Be sure to include your member number or enough other
information so that we can identify you in the membership database, and tell us
what information needs to be updated. Please note that it is not sufficient
just to notify your LEC or MEC of these changes—you should register them with
the ALPA Membership Department in Herndon. Can’t remember your member number
or how to log in? Need information about your ALPA insurance programs? These and
other questions about ALPA services can be answered by contacting
membership@alpa.org. Return to top
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Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l
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