Mesa Airlines Pilots to Vote on a New Tentative Agreement

Pilot leaders at Mesa Airlines, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA), announced they have reached a tentative agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement with their management.

The new tentative agreement includes pay increases for all pilots, increased vacation accrual, and better retirement benefits among many other contract improvements.

Union leaders will now send the new tentative agreement to the pilot group for review and a ratification vote beginning June 26.

“This agreement is a significant milestone,” said Capt. Andy Hughes, ALPA Mesa Air Group chairman. “Working with the company, our negotiators have been able to secure advances in virtually all areas of our contract. I am confident our pilots will be pleased with the results.”

The new agreement comes just three months after Mesa pilots requested mediation services from the National Mediation Board (NMB) to facilitate negotiations for a collective bargaining agreement. The pilot group has been in contract negotiations for more than six years with no pay increases since 2010.

“We know that our pilots want a contract that recognizes their contributions to Mesa’s success. Although it was far from easy, I believe we accomplished that with this new agreement,” said Capt. Hughes.

Since emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March 2011 with only 76 aircraft at the time and fewer than 600 pilots, Mesa has doubled in size.

Mesa Airlines operates as American Eagle from hubs in Phoenix and Dallas/Fort Worth and as United Express from Washington Dulles and Houston. Mesa pilots operate 134 aircraft, with more than 600 daily system departures to 124 cities, 38 states, the District of Columbia, Canada, Mexico, and the Bahamas. The airline will add 10 additional Embraer 175 aircraft to its fleet later this year.