Release #: ALA-VRD 17.03
July 26, 2017

Alaska Airlines’ Second-Quarter Financials Provide Further Proof

Company Can Pay Its Pilots Market-Rate Contract

SEATTLE, Wash.—Alaska MEC chairman Capt. Chris Notaro and Virgin America MEC chairman Capt. Joe Youngerman, the elected leaders of the Alaska Airlines and Virgin America pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA), responded to strong quarterly earnings report from Alaska Air Group, parent of Alaska Airlines, in line with the other top U.S. airlines. The news comes as Alaska Airlines management has asked a panel of arbitrators to award a pilot contract that leaves its pilots far behind their peers at other top-performing carriers in not only compensation, but also in retirement benefits and job protection.

“We congratulate Alaska Airlines on another profitable quarter. The Alaska and Virgin America pilots have been in negotiations for a joint collective bargaining agreement with Alaska management since January. We expected to have an agreement by now, but negotiations are headed to arbitration because management insists that they cannot compensate us in line with our peers at other airlines. Today’s earnings announcement proves that the company is well positioned to provide its pilots with the market-rate contract its pilots have earned.

“The Alaska and Virgin America pilots significantly lag behind their peers in wages, retirement benefits, and job security,” they added. “They have fallen further and further behind the industry, and it is time for Alaska management to get serious about reaching an agreement with its pilots, because this merger won’t fly without the pilots on board.”

Founded in 1931, ALPA is the world’s largest pilot union, representing more than 57,000 pilots at 33 airlines in the United States and Canada. Visit the ALPA website at www.alpa.org or follow us on Twitter @WeAreALPA, @AlaskaMECALPA, @VXALPA, and on Facebook: /MECAlaska.

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CONTACT: ALPA Media, 703-481-4440 or Media@alpa.org
Alaska MEC, Jenn Sutton: 206-241-3138 or 425-221-3179
Virgin America MEC, Katy Adams: 703-481-4430 or 561-385-3098

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