The Allied Pilots Association followed up on its hotline with a press release Wednesday urging the Department of Transportation to postpone any decision on American Airlines' requst for antitrust immunity with British Airways and several other partners. The decision needs to be put off "to allow for a full examination of related national security, competitiveness and outsourcing issues," the union said. Says union president Lloyd Hill: Given the complexity of these proposed agreements, the many unknowns associated with them and other important considerations, we strongly recommend that any decision be deferred until a thorough analysis can be conducted. APA has major job-security concerns relative to what American Airlines is attempting to do, while other interested parties have voiced meaningful opposition to reduced competition among carriers. There simply isn't time for the federal government to conduct an appropriately thorough investigation in a matter of weeks, as American Airlines management has advocated. He further raises these points: "National security ramifications" of having American, a part of the nation's Civil Reserve Air Fleet, "engage in what amounts to a virtual merger with foreign counterparts"; "The potential outsourcing of more American jobs"; and APA's belief that the deal violates the union's scope clause that says that flying done on behalf of American will be done by American's pilots. ...
Anytime
