Legislative Summit Sends Pilots to the Hill

The 2nd annual ALPA Government Affairs Legislative Summit kicked off today, highlighting the make-or-break influence federal policy has on the U.S. airline industry’s ability to compete and survive in the global aviation market. “For us to win, we have to be diplomatically aggressive,” said ALPA President Lee Moak during his opening remarks, emphasizing the importance of taking the pilot message directly to lawmakers. Moak noted that U.S. airlines and their employees are under siege from state-owned and state-sponsored foreign carriers, and others who manipulate current U.S. aviation policy to their advantage.

In fact, ALPA’s summit is also a training ground for pilot volunteers who will visit their members of Congress on Capitol Hill tomorrow. The pilots will lobby U.S. representatives for the Safe Skies Act to revise FAR 117 to include cargo operations under the same fatigue standards as those of passenger airlines, the Saracini Aviation Safety Act to mandate secondary cockpit barriers, and ongoing efforts to prohibit a “flag-of-convenience” business model (Norwegian Air International) to undermine labor standards and avoid regulatory scrutiny.

Summit attendees heard from guest speaker Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) who announced that he would today sign the congressional letter of support for ALPA’s “Deny NAI” campaign. “There’s an attempt to undercut the market here in the United States and, if that market is undercut, we are going to see air carriers fly to the lowest common denominator,” he said. “We want to maintain a very high standard in aviation.”

ALPA First Vice President and National Safety Coordinator Sean Cassidy spoke briefly about safety as a driving component for government policymaking. Cassidy noted that U.S. aviation has evolved from the days when accidents compelled corresponding legislation as a means of setting safety standards. He commented on the Safe Skies Act and the secondary barriers bill, saying, “From my view, we cannot lose the battle we are currently fighting on any item, if we are to drive the safety bar even higher.”

“A blueprint for action” was how Michael Robbins, ALPA managing director, Government and Public Affairs, described the third edition of Leveling the Playing Field, ALPA’s white paper outlining policy solutions to protect domestic aviation interests and help the U.S. airline industry be more competitive. Watch tomorrow’s webcast, when Capt. Moak will officially unveil Leveling the Playing Field 3.0: Survival Mode to the public, at alpa.org.

Today’s summit attendees also received advocacy training and attended instructional breakout sessions. The two-day event is being held at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill. Look for additional coverage in the July 2014 issue of Air Line Pilot and visit sos.alpa.org to take action from home.