Pilot Deal, US Air Meeting Ahead For American Airlines
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - It could be a busy week for American Airlines, with a deal with its pilots union close at hand.
Sunday afternoon the Allied Pilots Association told its members they hope to have finalized contract language with the Fort Worth-based airline soon.
North Texas bankruptcy attorney Bill Seigal says to get out of bankruptcy, a deal with the pilots must get done first.
KRLD's Austin York talks with Bill Seigal:
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American will also meet with US Airways and its creditors Tuesday to discuss the pros and cons of a possible merger between the two companies.
Seigal says that doesn't mean the merger is a done deal. "What American is trying to do is be transparent with it's creditors," he said. "They owe it to their creditors an opportunity to make that presentation and allow US Airways to make that presentation."
Meanwhile, pilot union negotiators says hope to have a contract proposal to present to the board to vote on by the end of the week.
The APA sent out a letter to members saying in part they had reached partial agreements on many of the points over the weekend.
Over the past four days, we have finalized contract language to the point that there are only a handful of open paragraphs still being worked. The remaining points which have not been agreed to by the parties involve final language for an industry pay-parity adjustment, furlough protection, and parameters for regional feed aircraft. Our goal is to reach an agreement on these points and present a final product to the APA Board of Directors at some point this week.
The agreement came after negotiations hit an impasse Friday night between the union and the airline.
