Harry Hopkins/MONTREAL
Global airline alliances could threaten safety in the future by eclipsing the control of national aviation authorities, the International Federation of Airline Pilots Associations (IFALPA) agreed at its 23-28 April annual conference in Montreal, Canada.
The implication is that the influence of operators' certificates could be eroded because decisions about corporate policy will be taken at a supra-airline level.
Pilots are also working to ensure that their existing influence on airline safety policy is not reduced by global alliances. Holding parallel meetings in Montreal at the same time as IFALPA, individual pilot associations from the member airlines of existing and planned airline alliances were setting up pilot union affiliations to cover the global airline groupings. The Allied Pilots Association - the American Airlines pilots' union - and the British Airline Pilots Association drafted a protocol for working together if the American/British Airways alliance goes ahead.
In the meantime, pilot groups from the Swissair-led alliance, which includes Austrian Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Sabena, along with codeshare partner Finnair, formalised their Global Pilot Alliance, negotiations for which began in July 1997. Unions from the six-airline Star Alliance and two associated carriers held a co-ordination meeting in early April.
The head of the Delta pilots' unit at the US Air Line Pilots Association, Capt Dennis Dolan, says: "Pilots have a vested interest in assuring that our airline alliances do not compromise on air safety or pilot careers." He worries that an alliance could be "-tempted to give a disproportionate amount of flying to the airline with the lowest pilot compensation package", unless the pilots acted together. Also voiced at the IFALPA conference were concerns about the secondary effects of airline outsourcing, and the setting up of "alter ego" partner airlines to cut costs.
Source: Flight International
