American Airlines (AAL) has a major problem looming on its hands. The airline is close to facing a strike from its unionized flight attendants after the company failed to negotiate a new contract that includes higher pay.
The news comes after it was recently revealed that new flight attendants at the company make around $27,000 annually before taxes and incentives.
The Association of Professional Flight Attendants, a union that represents American Airlines flight attendants, claims that it failed to make an agreement with the airline after weeks of negotiations.
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“Two weeks of intensive mediation at the National Mediation Board (NMB) offices in Washington, D.C., failed to produce an agreement with American Airlines,” the union said in a May 31 statement. “These sessions followed three weeks of mediation in DFW. Per the request of the NMB, we cannot release particular details. We remain apart on the key economics of the deal plus the company’s completely unacceptable demand for scheduling concessions.”
The union warned that American Airlines flight attendants should gear up to strike even though it is illegal for airline workers to do so unless they receive permission from the federal government.
“All Flight Attendants need to prepare for a strike,” said the APFA in a statement. “Strike handbooks will be mailed to your address on file with APFA. Our right to strike under the Railway Labor Act has not changed. However, we cannot strike until released by the NMB and following a thirty-day cooling-off period.”
The union has previously highlighted that the pay gap between American Airline employees and the company’s CEO is widening, calling it “corporate greed.”
“Flight Attendants are the only employees at American Airlines who have not had a raise in the past five years,” according to a May 8 statement. “Meanwhile, in 2023, AA CEO Robert Isom received a staggering $31.4 million pay package. New hire Flight Attendants at American Airlines start at just $27,000/year. Robert Isom’s compensation package is now 1,162 times that of a new-hire Flight Attendant, corporate greed at its finest.”
A starting salary for flight attendants at American Airlines is slightly higher than federal poverty levels which is $15,060 for an individual household and $20,440 for a family of two in 2024.
A potential strike from American Airlines could come at a time of year when airline travel is expected to reach record levels. A report from the International Air Transport Association in December reveals that a record 4.7 billion people are expected to travel in this year, which the association claims is “an historic high that exceeds the pre-pandemic level of 4.5 billion recorded in 2019.”
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“Industry revenues are expected to reach an historic high of $964 billion in 2024,” reads the report. “An inventory of 40.1 million flights is expected to be available in 2024, exceeding the 2019 level of 38.9 million and up from the 36.8 million flights expected in 2023.”
Despite the high demand, global airline capacity is also predicted to remain constrained due to supply chain issues, which have recently been exacerbated by Boeing’s quality and safety control mishaps.
“Supply chain issues continue to impact global trade and business,” reads the report. “Airlines have been directly impacted by unforeseen maintenance issues on some aircraft/engine types as well as delays in the delivery of aircraft parts and of aircraft, limiting capacity expansion and fleet renewal.”
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