American Airlines CEO Promises to Do This for Its Pilots

Following wages increasing at other carriers, American Airlines is aiming to improve the pay of its own pilots.

The company’s CEO Robert Isom said this week that the company will revise its pay proposals for its 14,000 pilots.

Isom acknowledged pay standards have increased since the company made its most recent offer before the pandemic.

American Airlines had previously floated a 4% date-of-signing increase

plus 3% annual raises after that. Then Covid-19 had impacted the industry.
“It was industry-leading at the time we proposed it,” Isom said in a video message to pilots posted Monday, which was viewed by CNBC. “As the pandemic wanes, the standard for compensation has gone up.”

Two of the company’s subsidiaries, regional carriers Piedmont and Envoy, extended big raises to its pilots, which included a temporary 50% pay hike through the end of August 2024.

United Airlines last month became the first major carrier in the pandemic to reach a contract deal with its pilots’ union, the Air Line Pilots Association.

The Union leadership is set to vote on that agreement next week and it will go to pilots for a vote if it passes.

“We will take other carriers’ ratified agreements, including United’s, into account and update our pay proposals quickly when details are known,” Isom said. “Our team will be paid well and be paid competitively. You are not going to fall behind network peers.”

Dennis Tajer, spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association, American’s pilots’ union, said the company has to do more than raise wages.

“There is no work-life balance,” he said Wednesday.

Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.