Pilots union wants management team at American fired over cancellations
The union for American Airlines pilots is calling on the company to fire the “management team members who control the American Airlines operation” after another summer when the carrier sometimes struggled with delays and cancellations.
The union’s board of directors, representing 14,000 pilots at American, pinned some of the periods of heavy cancellations and flight delays this summer on the team that helps run day-today operations of the company. The resolution passed 17 to 2, with one person abstaining.
“Throughout the summer of 2021, middle management chose to advance cancel hundreds of flights, disrupting thousands of travel plans while at the same time damaging the American Airlines brand,” the resolution calling for the firings said.
The union made it clear that it was not calling for the replacement of CEO Doug Parker or President Robert Isom, although the union said in 2017 that the pilots had “lost confidence in Doug Parker and his management team’s ability to successfully lead American Airlines.”
The union didn’t specify who exactly should be replaced but said it was below senior management.
“They are tasked with assuring that American Airlines’ operation is reliable, not only for our pilots but most importantly for our passengers,” Allied Pilots Association spokesman Dennis Tajer said. “Doug Parker and Robert Isom say the right things, but the job is not getting done below them.”
The association has been at odds with American for months after they were allies for most of last year in begging the federal government for more than $52 billion in aid that went to help airlines cover payrolls. In recent months, pilots have said the airline was ill-equipped to put so many flights on schedules this summer, though demand from passengers was heavy.
The union pointed to the Father’s Day weekend in June, in which hundreds of flights were canceled and more than 60,000 passengers were affected by operational problems that came after weather issues.
The airline said at the time that weather created a domino effect of pilots and flight attendants reaching federal limits on hours worked, and it took days to work through the shortage of crew members.
The union said there were several more weekends in July and August where there continued to be problems.
The union, along with the flight attendants union, have complained that problems at the airline this summer have made it difficult to get hotels, food and transportation for crew members during trips. The pilots union has also complained that the company’s scheduling strategy puts too many pilots on standby, nearly double the industry average.