Release #: ARW 16.01
June 06, 2016

Air Wisconsin Pilots Launch “2018: Sunrise or Sunset?” Campaign

Pilots Seek Answers About Their Airline’s Future

HERNDON, Va.—Facing questions from pilots about the future of their airline, Air Wisconsin’s ALPA leaders have launched a new campaign to encourage management to share their plans to attract new business.

The “2018: Sunrise or Sunset?” campaign acknowledges the reality that Air Wisconsin Airlines Corp. (AWAC) has no flying contracted for beyond February 2018, and has not shared any information on how it plans to continue operating past that date.

“The industry for quite some time now has been trending away from Air Wisconsin’s 50-seat business model and, although we don’t know what the future holds for the 50-seat market, the 50-seat fleet continues to be reduced by all the mainline carriers,” said Air Wisconsin ALPA Master Executive Council chairman Capt. Chris Suhs. “The employees of Air Wisconsin deserve to know what’s happening, good or bad, so we can plan our careers.”

With 69 50-seat CRJ200 aircraft and approximately 780 pilots, Air Wisconsin is the largest privately held regional airline in the United States. But it has not contracted any new flying in more than a decade since it ended its partnership with United Airlines and began a new relationship with US Airways.

With US Airways now merged with American Airlines, Air Wisconsin is operating as an American Eagle carrier. American extended AWAC’s contract extension in 2015, but that deal expires in just 22 months.

The point of “2018: Sunrise or Sunset?” is to gain information on management’s plans so that pilots can help both the airline and themselves move forward.

“We’re not talking about the company going out of business; we’re asking the company to tell us what it is doing to stay in business,” Suhs explained. “Ideally that includes new airplanes, new contracts, or a new extension from American. We’d like the opportunity to be a part of the solution.”

Founded in 1931, ALPA is the largest airline pilot union in the world and represents over 53,000 pilots at 31 U.S. and Canadian airlines. Visit the ALPA website at www.alpa.org or follow us on Twitter @WeAreALPA.

-###-

CONTACT: ALPA Media, 703-481-4440 or Media@alpa.org