In advance of Air Transport Services Group’s (ATSG) first quarterly earnings release, the pilots of Air Transport International (ATI), represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA), call on management to acknowledge how unprecedented labor concerns may affect their customers and future revenue.
On behalf of the ATI pilot group, Capt. Mike Sterling, chair of the ATI ALPA Master Executive Council, said:
“ATSG management likely won’t address the unprecedented pilot attrition at ATI, but on the line every day we see and feel the impact the staffing imbalance is having on our reliability, which our customers count on.
“ATI pilots are committed to making ATI a career destination and want to support our customers, but management is unwilling to come to a new pilot agreement that will facilitate this level of commitment. We have made it very clear that a market-based contract that acknowledges the value we deliver to our customers, ATI, and ATSG, is needed to retain and attract pilots.
“Just as critical are the resources needed to continue to provide the superior level of service our customers have come to expect. The current unsustainably fatiguing schedules, inconsistent pay, overworked support staff, increased contract violations, training difficulties, and schedules that damage our quality of life are all catalysts for pilots leaving.
“Our management teams have the ability to stem the flow of highly qualified pilots by reaching a fair and equitable contract agreement. ATI pilots do not want to leave but are finding better career opportunities elsewhere.”
ATI employs around 550 professional pilots. A record 126 pilots left ATI in 2022. Current pilot attrition is expected to exceed that in 2023, with 78 departures as of April 21, 2023.
Currently, ATI is utilizing a visa program to hire foreign pilots to bolster pilot ranks, a measure that is likely to be insufficient in maintaining, much less growing, its precipitous and continuously dwindling staffing levels.
