For the second consecutive month, Air Transport International (ATI) has been unable to fill the captain vacancies left by staggering pilot resignations. Year to date, ATI has accepted 155 resignations, representing 29 percent of the pilot group.
Even after awarding captain upgrades to new hires with little or no Boeing 767 flight experience, ATI still missed the mark by more than 33 percent filling only 67 percent of available captain vacancies (this number does not include pilots who have already elected to withdraw from the vacancy award). The ATI pilot union warns that this inability to upgrade first officers while experienced captains leave the company in droves, if unaddressed, will likely lead to a staffing crisis.
“Management’s failure to deliver a contract on par with the industry standard has driven many of our highly experienced and hardworking pilots out the door,” said Capt. Mike Sterling, chair of the ATI Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) Master Executive Council. “Add in that our pilots are being squeezed harder and harder each month with more day/night transitions, higher block times, shorter layovers, and an overall fatiguing environment that has so far been ignored by upper management and you have a recipe for even more attrition and no appetite for pilots to begin a career at ATI.”
ATI and ALPA have been in contract negotiations for more than three years and entered into mediation earlier this year. ATI and parent company Air Transport Services Group (ATSG) have not made any meaningful progress on big ticket issues including compensation and retirement. When asked about ATI pilot negotiations during ATSG’s second quarter earnings call, CEO Rich Corrado stated that he “doesn’t expect the CBA to be settled prior to 2024.”
“After negotiating for more than three years, it’s disheartening to hear that ATSG is not serious about reaching an agreement. The sluggish mentality of ATSG leadership is driving pilots away from what was once a destination airline. ATI has already seen its pipeline of U.S. military pilots disintegrate as they discover that ATI is not well-suited to professional progression and the other traditional pilot pipeline—regional jet airlines—is drying up as those candidates seek carriers with stronger pay/retirement packages and less fatiguing work rules. Delivering a contract with much-needed improvements in pay, retirement, and work rules will allow ATI to attract and retain experienced pilots and may polish ATI’s currently tarnished reputation within the industry,” concluded Sterling.
