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News from ALPA International

February 26, 2013


Check the Pulse of the Industry

In This Issue:

ALPA Calls on Congress to End Sequester Threat Now

At a news conference held yesterday at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l joined members of Congress and travel association representatives in calling for federal lawmakers to ensure that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are not forced to make hundreds of millions of dollars in across-the-board budget cuts because of the so-called sequester, which could go into effect on March 1.

“The impact of sequestration cannot be underestimated because at the very time many of our passengers are contemplating their next business trip or family vacation, our pilots are looking at a future in which they will have no other choice than to leave those passengers stranded at the gate,” said Capt. Sean Cassidy, ALPA’s first vice president, at the news conference, which included Rep. James Moran (D-Va.), Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), and Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.).

Read more.

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Mesa Secures New Flying
US Airways recently entered into a letter of agreement with Mesa Air Group for nine additional CRJ900s. These aircraft are expected to be in service by July 2013 for an eight-year period.

“Mesa pilots have withstood the test of time, and we’re looking forward to maintaining our flight plan for continued success,” says ALPA MAG MEC Chairman Marcin Kolodziejczyk. “We’ve experienced extreme highs with rapid growth and soaring career expectations then plunged into a bankruptcy restructuring that decimated our pilot ranks with furloughs, downgrades, and displacements.”

Read more.

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LA FFDO Town Hall Meeting Offers Full Agenda
TSA’s Office of Law Enforcement/Federal Air Marshal Service (OLE/FAMS) has scheduled the next Federal Flight Deck Officer (FFDO) town hall meeting at its El Segundo, Calif., field office on Monday, March 11, from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The agenda includes a FAMS tactical demonstration, tour of the facility, and a question-and-answer session with FFDO program managers and FAMS Flight Operations supervisors.

Preregistration is required for attendance at this event. To do so, FFDOs in good standing should direct their notice of intent to attend to ffdoinfo@ole.tsa.dhs.gov and insert the phrase “LAX Town Hall Meeting” in the message’s subject line. Consult the FFDO Dashboard for further details.

ALPA’s Aviation Security Structure encourages FFDOs to attend this meeting. It will provide them with an excellent opportunity to learn more about the program and to discuss items of interest with FFDO program managers in a small group setting.

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Pulse of the Industry
United Airlines will launch summer-season service from Newark’s Liberty International Airport to Anchorage, Alaska, and Traverse City, Mich. . . . Delta Air Lines will add two daily flights between Theodore Roosevelt Regional Airport in Dickinson, N.D., and Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, beginning June 10 . . . Jazz Aviation recently introduced Bombardier Q400 turboprop service from Calgary to Fort McMurray, Alta., Regina and Saskatoon. Nine additional routes will be added using the Q400 fleet during the coming months . . . Hawaiian Airlines reports that it will add 31 flights between Honolulu and three cities in Australia and New Zealand in September and October . . . The Alaska Air Group, parent company of Alaska Airlines, will webcast a presentation by Brandon Pedersen, Alaska’s vice president–finance and chief financial officer, at the J.P. Morgan Aviation, Transportation & Defense Conference on March 4 at 1:55 p.m., ET. Visit www.alaskaair.com/investors several minutes before the scheduled start time to allow sufficient time to register.

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We Want Your Photos
We want to see what you see. Share your pictures from the line, and give us some context (i.e., let us know what we’re looking at).

Air Line Pilot encourages you to submit your high-quality prints from a developer or high-resolution digital images. Your photos could be featured in a future magazine!

Send your photos to Communications@alpa.org. Thanks.

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Pilot Mentors for Kent State ACE Club Needed
The faculty at Kent State University is aggressively pursuing an ALPA ACE Club, and the ALPA Education Committee is looking for a few Kent State alums who could take the lead on this project. Interested parties should contact Education Committee chair Capt. Dave Ryter (EGL) at Dave.Ryter@alpa.org.

ALPA’s Education Committee provides information and resources about the airline pilot profession to those interested in aviation careers while promoting professionalism, integrity, and ethics. The purpose of the student-led ALPA ACE Clubs is to create a medium through which working airline pilots can bring elements of the airline industry to the next generation of airline pilots.

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In Search of “Our Stories” Subjects
Have you read the “Our Stories” column in Air Line Pilot? It profiles the interesting backgrounds and fascinating experiences ALPA members have to share. We’ve covered a former space shuttle astronaut, a volunteer fireman in a small Tennessee town, a mountain climber working in the Himalayas with Wounded Warrior, and a host of others—pilots pursuing passions, in and outside of the cockpit.

Do you have an interesting story to tell? Do you know someone who does? We want to hear about it. E-mail a brief description to us at Magazine@alpa.org and help us share “Our Stories.”

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Stay in the Loop with “ALPA Daily”
The aviation industry is changing faster than ever before. The “ALPA Daily” feature at www.alpa.org will keep you informed of the latest industry developments and analysis from around the globe. Check it out each day to stay up-to-date on the news that affects pilots and the piloting profession.

ALPA members can sign up to receive ALPA Daily in their e-mail. Visit this link.

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FastFact
On February 26, 1954, Piedmont Airlines transported its one millionth passenger. Six years earlier, Piedmont operated its first scheduled flight on February 20, 1948 between Wilmington, N.C., and Cincinnati, Ohio.

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Feedback & E-mail Address Changes
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.

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Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l
1625 Massachusetts Avenue NW | Washington, DC 20036 | 703-689-2270