Spirit Airlines Profile

“We urge Spirit Airlines’ management to dedicate its energies to bargaining in good faith with the airline’s pilots”

“We are well acquainted with the challenge our Spirit Airlines colleagues face,” said APA President Captain Lloyd Hill. “They are dealing with a management team engaged in delay tactics and intent on extracting further employee concessions, which has unfortunately become a familiar refrain throughout the airline industry.

“As professional aviators, we cannot permit the industry-wide ‘race to the bottom’ mentality that prevailed during much of the past decade to continue,” he said. “We therefore pledge our support to the pilots of Spirit Airlines as they attempt to conclude their contract negotiations amicably and without inconvenience to the airline’s customers.”

Following its declaration of a negotiating impasse, the National Mediation Board released Spirit Airlines’ pilots and management to a 30-day cooling-off period. During this time, both parties are required to preserve the status quo, which means that management must maintain the same wages and working conditions and the pilots must refrain from any withdrawal of service. If no agreement is reached by the end of the 30 days on June 12, the two parties are then permitted to engage in self-help activities such as the imposition of new contract conditions by management or a strike by the pilots.

“We urge Spirit Airlines’ management to dedicate its energies to bargaining in good faith with the airline’s pilots,” Hill said. “Otherwise, the alternative could prove costly to all concerned.”

Other Spirit Airlines News

• Spirit Airlines adds second daily non-stop flight between Fort Lauderdale and Cancun, Mexico
• Spirit Airlines starts service to Barranquilla, Colombia
• Spirit Airlines to add new non-stop service Chicago †Las Vegas and Chicago †Atlantic City
• Spirit pilots reach deal with management
• Spirit Airlines update on ALPA strike: Flights cancelled through Thursday, 17-Jun-2010
• Spirit Airlines strikes again - passengers abandoned
• Allied Pilots Association voices support for Spirit Airlines’ pilots
• Spirit Airlines initiates flexible travel policy for Kingston, Jamaica
• Spirit Airlines starts service between Detroit and Atlantic City
• Spirit pilots decline arbitration - strike could result soon