Sky Talk

American reopens job posting for flight attendant positions

Flight attendants wanted.

American Airlines re-opened its flight attendant job posting on Friday as it expects to add 1,500 new flight attendants this year.

The carrier had previously accepted flight attendant applications in November and over 20,000 job applicants submitted their resume in less than a week.

"Our focus remains on finding great people that can deliver the level of service our customers expect of the new American," the carrier said in a memo to employees on Friday.

It is also looking for flight attendants that speak Italian, German, Portuguese, Korean, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Finnish, Spanish and French.

-Andrea Ahles

Flight attendants' union lays out timeline for American's reorganization plan approval

In a message sent to flight attendants on Tuesday evening, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants laid out the timeline for what happens next in American Airlines' bankruptcy.

The Disclosure Statement must first be approved by the court as containing adequate information. The Disclosure Statement describes the Plan of Reorganization, the history of the bankruptcy case, the kind of compensation creditors will receive for their claims, and the company's finances and operations once it emerges from bankruptcy protection. As shown in the time line below the hearing to approve the Disclosure Statement is set for May 30. Then, AMR will send the disclosure statement, the POR, and a ballot to all creditors so that they can vote. The Court then holds a hearing to confirm the plan. Since the merger plan already has the support of the UCC, our team does not expect any significant objections to the disclosure statement or the POR.

Yesterday’s motion requested the following timeline for the significant milestones remaining in this bankruptcy:

May 23 at 4:00pm – Disclosure Statement Objection Deadline

May 30 at 11:00am – Disclosure Statement Hearing

June 20 – Solicitation Deadline (ballots must be distributed to each creditor by this date)

June 29 – Voting Deadline

August 1 at 4:00pm – Plan Confirmation Objection Deadline

August 8 – Voting Certification Deadline

August 12 at 4:00pm – Deadline to Reply to Plan Objections

August 15 – Plan Confirmation Hearing

-Andrea Ahles

US Airways flight attendants ratify new contract

US Airways flight attendants ratified a new contract with the carrier that includes double-digit pay increases and job protections.

Flight attendants ratified the contract by 80 percent, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, said on Thursday. This was the third time that flight attendants were voting on a new contract. The two previous contract proposals were rejected by the flight attendants.

"We are well positioned to advance as key partners in the merger with American Airlines and will continue our work to further improve wages, benefits and work rules for all flight attendants at the new American,” said AFA US Airways Presidents Roger Holmin and Deborah Volpe in a statement. AFA represents 6,800 flight attendants at US Airways.

The contract includes a requirement for discussions between both American Airlines and US Airways management, the AFA and the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, which represents American flight attendants, to discuss integration of the flight attendants work groups. The discussions are scheduled to begin within the next thirty days.

"With today's ratification our flight attendants start the process to become one team and one great new airline," said US Airways chief executive Doug Parker.

-Andrea Ahles

Unions applaud merger between American and US Airways

With the early morning merger announcement from American Airlines and US Airways, several labor unions issued their statements applauding the deal.

Allied Pilots Association spokesman Dennis Tajer - "With a strong, proven leadership team focused on partnering with frontline employees, improving reliability and customer service, and expanding our network, the new American Airlines will return to a position of industry preeminence. Today marks the culmination of a strategy that APA began pursuing early last year. Our primary goals were to create a strong future for a post-bankruptcy American Airlines, and to protect and enhance our pilots’ careers. This merger accomplishes those goals."

Association of Professional Flight Attendants president Laura Glading - "It’s been a long, tough road but the result is well worth it. Today’s announcement proves that everyone benefits when labor has a seat at the table. The new American will provide job security and fair compensation for all employees and another great option for the flying public. I'm looking forward to working with our new colleagues as our operations and cultures combine. Flight attendants from both companies are eager to help build a strong and competitive airline and restore American's prominence."

Association of Flight Attendants-CWS, which represents US Airways flight attendants - "The merger between US Airways and American Airlines holds great opportunities for Flight Attendants. We will raise the bar for our profession and we look forward to working as key partners. US Airways Flight Attendants have been instrumental in the overall success of our airline. Our hard work and sacrifices have helped turn US Airways into the thriving airline it is today. As full partners in the world’s largest airline, we expect meaningful participation in its benefits. We look forward to working with our colleagues at American in improving wages, benefits, work rules and retirement security for ALL Flight Attendants at the new American."

US Airline Pilots Association president Gary Hummel - "This merger came about due to the cooperative efforts of both management and labor. As pilots, we are proud to be a part of the New American Airlines and look forward to working with our colleagues at the Allied Pilots Association – and building our new company into a financially strong, premier global carrier. We are proud to be a part of the new American Airlines. The success of this merger will signify the cooperative effort of professional pilots and management working together. We are pleased to be working with our colleagues of the Allied Pilots Association who are also committed to seeing our new company succeed, and ensure a safe flight for our passengers each and every day. That is what we do."

-Andrea Ahles

American flight attendants union agrees to a memorandum in favor of a US Airways merger

On Thursday evening, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants announced that it has agreed to a memorandum of understanding that discusses work and integration issues if American Airlines merges with US Airways.

The APFA, which represents 18,000 American flight attendants, said it would not be able to divulge the details of the memorandum because the union has previously agreed to a non-disclosure agreement.

Here is the brief statement issued by the APFA:

APFA has agreed to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), clarifying several points contained within the Bridge Agreement the union signed with US Airways last Spring. This MOU further illuminates the financial benefits of a merger to AMR’s creditors. APFA is currently operating under a judicially-enforceable non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with regards to merger discussions, which means that as long as this restriction is in place, we are not able to divulge specific details of the MOU.

The Allied Pilots Association as also approved an MOU related to the merger which is currently being considered by the two carriers and the US Airways' pilots union.

-Andrea Ahles

American and Southwest flight attendants union applaud proposed OSHA policies

Flight attendant unions at American Airlines and Southwest Airlines applauded new government proposals to ensure workplace safety on airplanes.

The Transport Workers Union, which represents flight attendants at Southwest, said a proposal to give the Occupational Safety and Health Administration oversight on issues such as cabin noise levels and blood-borne pathogens threats will make air travel safer.

"Moving luggage and equipment in a small confined space, and sharing a limited air supply with hundreds of travelers, creates exposure risks for our members," said TWU local 556 president Stacey Martin on Monday. "Getting OSHA and the [Federal Aviation Administration] on the same page is a huge step in the right direction."

The proposals, unveiled last week, will give OSHA the ability to enforce workplace health and safety standards not currently covered by the FAA, unions said.

"APFA has been pushing for these workplace protections for many years and we’re looking forward to incorporating them into our union’s safety culture," said Association of Professional Flight Attendants president Laura Glading, who represents flight attendants at American.

Public comments will be accepted by the government after the proposals from OSHA and the FAA are published in the Federal Register.

-Andrea Ahles

Over 20,000 apply for flight attendant positions at American in less than a week

American Airlines had over 20,000 people apply for flight attendant positions in less than week.

The Fort Worth-based carrier had opened up its application process on November 5 and is still looking for foreign-language candidates to apply, American spokeswoman Missy Cousino said on Thursday.

"We're thrilled with the overwhelming response to our regular flight attendant job postings, and believe we now have enough qualified candidates to consider for these openings," Cousino said. "In the meantime, job postings for several language speakers, including Korean, Mandarin, Finnish and Japanese will remain open."

Last month, American announced plans to hire 1,500 new flight attendants over the next year. With over 2,200 flight attendants taking a voluntary buy-out that included a $40,000 severance payment, American said it needed to hire new crew members to maintain adequate staffing levels.

It's the first time that American has hired new flight attendants in over a decade. Applicants will be processed this month with training scheduled to begin in January.

As part of the new contract it negotiated with the Association of Professional Flight Attendants while American is in bankruptcy, flight attendants will be trained to work on both domestic and international routes. Next year, they will also be trained on the Boeing 777-300 and Airbus aircraft that will enter American's fleet.

American currently has 16,000 flight attendants, at an average age of 51, according to the union. Their average annual salary is $45,000, American has said, which is higher than the national average of $37,740 for flight attendants in 2010, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

-Andrea Ahles

AMR executive says past few weeks of delays will have some impact on October revenues

As AMR released its third quarter earnings results, the carrier made its chief commercial officer Virasb Vahidi available for a few minutes to discuss the $238 million quarterly loss, the hiring of more flight attendants announced by American and how much of a financial impact a few weeks of delays and cancellations have had on the company.

Here is the discussion.

ST: Can you comment on why American announced today that it needs to hire 1,500 new flight attendants over the course of the next year?

Vahidi: It’s very, very exciting. It’s also I think another positive proof point that we are continuing to build the new American and that’s reflective of that. I just want to make one point on that before we go to earnings. I’ve been talking to a few of your colleagues at other outlets and I think this point has been lost. I haven’t actually seen the exact release so I just want to point out there are really two factors driving the hiring. One is obviously the fact as you know more than 2,250 flight attendants took the voluntary separation program and will be leaving the company over the course of the next few quarters. In addition, we also have increased training needs for the rest of this year and throughout next year because of two things. One is that we are training all of our domestic flight attendants to fly international routes and if you recall that is one of the changes we made as part of the new agreement with the APFA. So that requires that the domestic flight attendants be trained and we’re also conducting aircraft qualification training for all of our flight attendants on the new Boeing 777-300 which is new to our fleet and the Airbus fleet that is coming in next year. So the combination of the additional training that obviously requires the flight attendants to be in training rather than in flying and the volunteer separation program. Really that combination led to our ability to be able to welcome new flight attendants to American. It’s a great story. It’s fantastic news. I think both for our flight attendants but also for our customers and our future.

ST: AMR released its third quarter earnings this morning, posting a $238 million loss but would have made a profit excluding one-time items. How would you characterize AMR’s financial performance?

Vahidi: From our perspective, the financial performance was outstanding and it demonstrates the positive momentum which is pretty unusual for a company that is in restructuring. The improvement is significant but it’s important to recognize that it reflects only a portion of our restructuring progress which is obviously still ongoing. Excluding the reorganization special items, we made a net profit of $110 million, which was $272 million improvement over last year. The most important point, Andrea, because we’ve talked about this before is that with the further improvement in our results in the third quarter looking at consensus for the rest of the industry, we believe we have closed more than half of our margin gap versus the industry. What’s most impressive about that as I said earlier, the results in third quarter reflect only a portion of our restructuring progress. So as our restructuring efforts continue to move forward, we will continue to realize increasingly greater cost savings over the coming quarters. We are on track to achieve our targeted savings. Our third quarter costs were 2.7 percent lower than last year and we saw considerable improvement. We have in the [10-]Q, I don’t know if you had a chance to look at our Q document that we filed with our results, have listed in three of our cost lines – interest expense, aircraft rent and facilities rent – we have attributed  a $115 million dollar improvement on a year-over-year basis in those three lines to our restructuring efforts. You’re starting to see early signs of cost savings of our restructuring but as you very well know, a lot of the savings has not yet impacted the third quarter especially on the labor front, in terms of the labor savings that we have achieved. We think we have closed more than half of our margin gap versus the industry just in the third quarter of restructuring and we feel very, very good about that.

ST: So most of the cost savings from new labor contracts has yet to materialize for AMR?

Vahidi: I don’t think we’ve disclosed anything on labor but when you think about it, we just reached agreements with APFA, TWU, our nonunionized workgroups and we just in August completed the restructuring of the management organization. All of these have either been just inked or signed and the implementation of those new agreements have just started. So what I would say that we have not had any material impact of any labor savings in the third quarter but that’s why when we continue to move forward we will continue to realize even greater cost savings. What we have disclosed is in the Q is in the area that we have starting earlier this year. We’ve made progress with aircraft rents, facilities rents and interest expense obviously and in those we’re starting to see the early signs.

ST: In the earnings release, AMR said that the operational disruptions at American over the past few weeks have not had a material impact on the third quarter. What about the fourth quarter revenue and bookings?

Vahidi: We haven’t given any guidance for fourth quarter, but I’ll give you some nuggets here. For October in the fourth quarter, our operational performance continues a notable improvement trend. There will be some impact on the 4th quarter revenues given the lower booking trends we were seeing over the past few weeks which impacted October. And we anticipate the revenue impact will be more evident in October. But it’s really too early to estimate the impact either for October or in the full quarter. And as you know we have reduced our capacity from mid-September to mid-November by approximately one percent. We will have more to say on that as we know what the impact is.

ST: What factors do you point to on how AMR has improved its revenues?

Vahidi: I don’t want to sound like a broken record every time I talk to you, I talk about revenue results. I think we added a little bit more color on revenue in the release that it obviously continues the positive trend that we’ve seen throughout the year of outperforming the industry and then topping the industry in the last six months when it comes to our unit revenue growth. It crossed all five hubs in the domestic entity. It crossed all international markets in our international entity and we posted record load factors this quarter which was a record for any quarter in our history. The amount was very strong and we generated better yields again across all entities and we saw higher load factors. I think it is the continuation of our network strategy and these joint business agreements that you and I have talked about for almost a year now that we are now starting to see great momentum from the implementation of both the network strategy and our joint business strategy.

ST: Has AMR’s financial performance bolstered its case for a standalone restructuring plan with the unsecured creditors committee?

Vahidi: You know I’m not going to comment on any of that, Andrea. But what I will tell you having just spent some time with the creditors committee is that they have been extremely pleased with our financial performance and our revenue performance. They recognize that it is highly unusual for a company in restructuring to be outperforming the industry and they believe it’s evident of the network and the joint business agreement strategy that we’ve been implementing. So I think they recognize that this is a great progress for a company in restructuring.

-Andrea Ahles

American announces plans to hire 1,500 flight attendants

American Airlines announced it plans to hire 1,500 new flight attendants over the next year.

The carrier said that with over 2,200 flight attendants taking American's voluntary early-out option, it needs to hire new crew members. The recruitment process will begin in November with training to begin in January.

"For the first time in over a decade, American is seeking to add more than 1,500 new flight attendants who we believe will bring new perspectives to the airline," said American vice president of flight service Lauri Curtis."We value our flight attendants and appreciate the important contributions they make to our company every day. We look forward to welcoming new faces and working together to bring a fresh energy to our team, while at the same time giving current flight attendants the opportunity to move up the seniority list and reducing the number of current flight attendants who have to serve on reserve."

UPDATE: A statement from APFA president Laura Glading "I'm excited to see American hiring again; it has been a long, long time. Of course, this is the downstream effect of the Voluntary Early Out Program, which we fought very hard for. Not only did it give our senior members a dignified path to retirement, but it moved everyone else up the seniority list. I'm happy to welcome our new colleagues."

-Andrea Ahles

APFA president Glading: supportive of court extension to give American more time to consider a merger

If it takes American Airlines a little longer to restructure in bankruptcy, that’s fine with flight attendants union president Laura Glading.

"As long as there is discussion about strategic alternatives, it’s good news to me," Glading said about the company asking the bankruptcy court for more time to submit their restructuring plan. "I really think these things take time and they can’t be rushed and if we need more time to look at those alternatives then so be it."

As the board of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants meets in Fort Worth this week, Glading spoke with the Star-Telegram about implementing a new contract and continuing to support a merger with US Airways.

Here is a transcript of the interview:

ST: Last week, American chief executive Tom Horton expressed confidence in the carrier’s performance and ability to restructure in bankruptcy. You support a merger with US Airways while in bankruptcy. Do you think American can emerge from bankruptcy as a stand-alone carrier?

Glading: I guess I’m always kind of baffled about his optimism on the stand alone. I don’t understand that. I think that there’s overwhelming support now for the merger and although he says he’s engaging and he’s looking at strategic alternatives, I hope that he’s not being disingenuous about it. I hope his heart is in that. I really hope that he’s trying to talk and reach strategic alternatives and approaching that strategy with an open mind and is willing to accept that as an alternative if in fact that’s going to be better for the company. I guess lately I kind of look at American Airlines as this beloved company where the employees really have so much invested and we really, really love it. Especially during the bankruptcy, there are so many different interested parties, yet it’s always been the employees that really have the most to loose and really have their hearts in the success of the company. The flight attendants, I can speak for the flight attendants, I think I can speak for all the employees, we still love this company. We love the brand. We want it to succeed. We want to work for a successful company, and I just would feel so much more comfortable if everybody else involved in this bankruptcy had that as their best interest and that was the focus and the goal of everyone involved and nothing else. I just wish we could get into a room and leave all other interests at the door, forget everybody’s other role in everything else and I think that’s what it’s all about in bankruptcy is to say how can everybody sort of win here? How can we come out with the most successful company and everybody can survive? I just would like to see the focus put on the most successful carrier without any other interests involved.

ST: As far as you know, are merger talks still occurring?

Glading: According to the NDA, yes, talks are to be continuing and so that would be the assumption that US Air is you know even mentioned in the filing as one of the reasons so we know that they are talking as long as they are still a party to it and the process continues then I think the extension is positive.

ST: How many flight attendants will be leaving American in the next year as part of the early-out programs and how are you dealing with it?

Glading: 2,260 or so flight attendants have taken up some option to leave. It was either travel separation or the voluntary early out. It’s interesting because I think a lot of people were waiting to see what was in the offer. They wanted to see what the last best final offer would look like, whether we were going to approve it or go through 1113. It’s hard to plan the future when you don’t know what the future holds and I think we kind of gave them an option and a plan, something to help them plan their own future. So it sort of gave people who were considering leaving the nudge. It gave other people the confidence and the financial security to have that bridge to possibly do something else. It was a very difficult decision, much of it was financial but a lot of it had to do with emotion. It’s very, very difficult for people to leave this job. Flight attendants love the job. Flight attendants love coming to work. We communicate. We coordinate. We sacrifice. We work together. We do everything we need to do to have a successful flight and a successful group of workers and there is just this bond that’s formed. It’s very hard to describe. It’s the camaraderie. It’s the lifestyle. A lot of it is the residual pride we felt when we first started working for American, what it felt like to put on that uniform and look in the mirror. To leave it is difficult. But most of the people I’ve spoken to that have taken the out have a sense of relief. They have the sense that it’s been a really tough last ten years and now I’m going to turn to a new chapter and I’m looking forward to it. I’m really, really happy for them. I’m a little sad for myself. I’m relatively senior and a lot of people that I’ve worked with for many years are going to be leaving and I’m going to miss them terribly. But it’s an opportunity to possibly hire and of course, we haven’t hired in many years and it’s an opportunity for seniority to move and I’m just really happy for them. As long as people are happy, I’m happy for them. I think we had strong response and I think it’s worked out very, very well.

ST: How did your members respond to the numerous flight delays and cancellations that occurred in the past few weeks? American had accused the pilots of intentionally slowing down operations, although the union denied it.

Glading: The flight attendants were incredibly quiet and I don’t think there was any, if any finger-pointing, or accusations. Look, we’re faced with weather delays, grounding of different aircraft. Nobody made any assumptions about how it was happening and why. They just put one foot in front of the other and would take the delay just like they would take any other delay if there was one. I think the flight attendants handled this very well. Obviously, we don’t know if there were any intentional delays. I know the APA was not endorsing or sponsoring any and I’m very confident in that. We just move on and accept it. It’s part of our jobs.

ST: How did flight attendants deal with customers who were fed up with the delays?

Glading: I can honestly say that I didn’t have people calling me and flipping out about that. I think that is because we are a senior workforce. We’ve handled delays and frustrated customers and so many other things coming at us that people have just developed the tools to handle these things regardless of the circumstance and sure it’s frustrating, especially for the flight attendants because we’re always chasing the time and when our flight is delayed we’re not paid. We’re paid when the door closes and we’re actually in the air. So there were cancellations that affected them in a negative financial way...I have so many people tell me, you get the testimonial after people fly about how the nice the flight attendants were and conscientious. They really enjoy their job. They like the customer but they also realize that these are very difficult times and the customers are very important and give them their best service every single flight.

ST: Your union board is meeting this week. What are you focused on now that you have a new contract with American?

Glading: We’re just doing updates, right now concentrating on the implementation of our last best final offer because there are many, many changes. We’re talking about the scheduling of the people who are leaving under the voluntary early out programs. Some bases like Raleigh Durham International there is going to be a lot of people leaving so I think our focus right now is trying to transition everyone into the smoothest changeover from the contract to the last best and final offer. The idea was to make everyone’s work-life a little bit easier by maybe getting some transfers through and getting people on international who want to be on international. This is the opportunity to make those adjustments now and get information out about the last best and final offer.

ST: How long will the implementation take?

Glading: I think most of it will take about a year. It’s coming in stages. The preferential bidding piece will probably take a lot longer than that because that’s a lot of programming and we’re working with the pilots, trying to find a company that will handle preferential bidding systems. So that will take longer.

ST: Is there anything that you want customers of American to know about how the bankruptcy has affected flight attendants?

Glading: The bankruptcy process hits the employees so much harder than everyone involved and yet the employees are the people that have the greatest stake in the company. I think bankruptcy is screwed up in that regard. The very people who have made the sacrifices all along to make it a great company and have cared the most about the outcome of the company and I just would like them to know that is still our focus. And anything we do and getting behind a merger is because we really believe it’s the best thing not just for ourselves, not just for the employees but for the customers and the company and for its survival.

ST: Why does the flight attendants union still support a merger with US Airways?

Glading: We have to look at the industry and see what’s happened with other mergers. Having two giant network carriers instead of three makes it even more expensive for the passengers. I think when you have three there is more competition and more competitiveness. I’d also like to point out that despite what’s happening at American, you really need to look at United and Delta and see how they’ve grown and really stabilized and that was a result of growing and getting stronger. Part of what I don’t understand about American’s confidence in their own plan is that they don’t assume any competitive aggressiveness. They think that whatever they want to do won’t have a competitive response. I can’t imagine that Delta and United are going to sit back and let American grow in any rapid way and sit back and not compete. That’s what the business is all about. So I think any growth will be answered by one if not both of them. That’s just the reality.

ST: Can you reveal what the unsecured creditors committee is discussing right now and if they are leaning towards supporting a stand-alone restructuring plan or a merger with another carrier?

Glading: I really can’t talk about that at all. I can tell you though that I think the creditors committee has been working in a very deliberate way. I think that their considering everything. I do think that I’m very fortunate to have the people that are on the creditors committee. It’s a very good group of people and I would say that despite bankruptcy not being fair to the employees, I find that my fellow creditor committee members are willing to listen and to really understand where the unions are. I think the PBGC has been wonderful. I have to say I thoroughly enjoy working with this group of people. I think they have the best interest of the company at heart. And they are certainly willing to talk and compromise and really be very, very thorough. I guess that’s why the extension is fine, as long as everyone is doing what they need to do and really look at this carefully and making sure that it’s done correctly then it’s really a good thing for everybody.

-Andrea Ahles