American Airlines gave another round of raises and bonuses to regional airline employees, this time bumping up pay for flight attendants at Envoy, Piedmont and PSA Airlines and offering incentives to keep flying all summer.
The deals differ depending on the flight attendants’ airline and seniority, but starting flight attendants will now make at least $27 an hour when flying. The airline is also giving $3,000 retention bonuses to more senior flight attendants and “reliability incentives bonuses” of up to $4,500 for flight attendants who are active during the summer months.
“This is going to be a tough summer and we’re glad American and their wholly-owned airlines decided to work with us to provide incentives, make it more manageable to get to work, and attract new hires to the skies,” said Association of Flight Attendants International President Sara Nelson. “What’s good for the crew is good for the airline and the passengers who expect a safe, reliable travel experience.”
The deal covers about 3,000 flight attendants at the airlines.
It comes outside the normal contract negotiations with regional flight attendants and just days after American’s regional carriers agreed to deals with pilots at those carriers aimed at boosting retention and attracting pilots amid a tough labor market.
The new deal will bump up starting pay by about $6,000 for new flight attendants. The average base salary of a first-year PSA flight attendant, for example, will go from about $19,000 a year to $25,000 a year.
“In this highly competitive hiring environment, we are seeing high attrition across the regional industry, including here at PSA,” said a memo to PSA flight attendants from PSA vice president of inflight and operations performance Reddy Gumireddy. “These enhancements ensure we are taking the necessary actions to attract and retain the best talent to provide the high level of service PSA prides itself on.”
Pay for flight attendants are regional airlines is usually far below their counterparts at mainline carriers such as American Airlines. For example, before a new contract deal in March, Piedmont flight attendants made about $17,000 a year to start on average, although the new contract gave 24% to 56% wage bumps over the four-year deal.
With their deal, which also came outside of new contract negotiations, pilots at Envoy, Piedmont and PSA are getting pay raises that will push starting wages for new pilots to as much as $90 an hour, paying about $90,000 a year for new aviators. The airlines are also giving 50% bonuses for flying through 2024 as the industry sees a crunch for pilots and intense competition from larger airlines to recruit new pilots away from regional carriers.
The flight attendants at American’s 22,000-member Association of Professional Flight Attendants are in active contract negotiations.
