Pilot Partisan: Advancing Safety, Security, and the Profession

From left, Capt. Jill Mills (United), Capt. Reid Emminger (Hawaiian), Capt. Bill Secord (FedEx Express), and F/O Dawn Cook (Delta) take ALPA’s pro-pilot message to Capitol Hill.

Advocating on behalf of airline pilots is what we do. It’s the very reason our union was formed. And although we’ve achieved numerous and significant safety, security, and quality-of-life improvements since our inception in 1931, we continuously encounter threats to the U.S. and Canadian airline industry that take on new and different forms: the proliferation of flag-of-convenience and atypical business models, a skewed competitive field that includes global airlines receiving illegal subsidies, pushback from special-interest groups that misinterpret or seek to change safety and security legislation purely to improve their bottom line—just to name a few. And although the threats have changed, one single constant remains unchanged: the pilots of the Air Line Pilots Association, International continue to be the leading advocates for our industry and our profession.

On both Capitol Hill and Parliament Hill, ALPA engages with political allies who rise above party distinctions, champion our causes, and help advance our pilot-partisan agenda. Read on to learn what ALPA’s vast network of pilot volunteers, elected leaders, and professional staff are doing to ensure a level playing field for our members and the North American airline industry.

This article was originally published in the June 2019 issue of Air Line Pilot.

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