Alaska Airlines Reaches Tentative Agreement With Cabin Crew

After a series of negotiations, Alaska Airlines has reportedly reached a tentative deal with its flight attendant union regarding the crew contract. The details of the deal require further ratification before it can be confirmed.

Avoiding a strike

Seattle-based Alaska Airlines has reached a tentative deal with its flight attendants union, just in time to prevent the airline staff from going on strike during the upcoming peak summer travel season. According to Reuters, the agreement was reached on Friday, and the carrier has agreed to a record contract with its crew members.

However, the contract’s fine details still need to be reviewed by the flight attendant union’s leadership, followed by a voting process by the associate members. From the airline’s perspective, it is rather essential that the deal is agreeable to the union because earlier this month, several of the airline’s flight attendants picketed outside the airline’s hub at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), demanding fair wages and better employment conditions.

Related

Alaska Airlines Flight Attendants Are Inching Closer to Release From Mediation

Yesterday’s International Day of Action saw hundreds of off-duty flight attendants taking to the streets to highlight their cause.

Photo: Joe Kunzler | Simple Flying

If flight attendants went on strike, the airline would face severe operational disruptions, considering the upcoming summer travel demand and the fact that Alaska Airlines, earlier this month, added another million seats to its schedule, anticipating a busy summer.

Simple Flying has reached out to Alaska Airlines to know more about the deal offered to the flight attendants. Any response will be updated into this article.

Not just Alaska

Recently, several other US-based airlines have also been engaged in contract negotiations with their flight attendants unions, discussing the possibility of a new contract. While American Airlines and United Airlines have been engaged in contract negotiations for a while now, not all carriers have had the same positive outcome as Alaska Airlines.

Related

American Airlines Flight Attendant Contract Talks Break Down Without Agreement

If approved by the National Mediation Board, American Airlines flight attendants will be able to strike after a 30-day cooling-off period.

As of Thursday, talks between American Airlines and the flight attendants’ union had ended without yielding any positive results, which reportedly means that the union members could be potentially preparing for a strike.

Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

If an agreeable deal cannot be reached, the airline flight attendants can take strike action 30 days after the National Mediation Board approves it.

A slow first quarter

The US aviation market as a whole appears to have struggled in the first quarter of 2024, with the US Bureau of Transportation recording a combined loss of $1.6 billion among the US carriers. This is an increase in the loss recorded compared to the $1.2 billion recorded during the same period in 2023.

The data suggests that while the revenue as a whole decreased by 0.1% from the same period in 2023, the airlines’ labor costs increased from 33.4% in 2023 to 35.8% during the first quarter of 2024.

Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock

The analyzed data shows that the carriers lost around $900 million on their domestic networks and around $800 million on their international routes. However, several factors contributed to the recorded losses, such as airport congestion, delivery delays of new aircraft, grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX 9s, and significant weather disruptions.