| From: OldAIMGuy | 3/8/2023 1:21:00 PM | | | | | | Both JETS and an airline stock, MESA, have been feeling better in 2023 so far. JETS has yet to rise enough for me to shed some inventory (target price to sell 10% of shares is $23.71) but MESA managed to trigger one sale so far. It's now hovering just below its target sell price for relieving me of 10% of my holding there. Here's how it looks. Note that January and February MESA offered healthier activity than most of the previous year.
Short selling seemed to end right around the end of 2022 and the stock shows far better accumulation since then. In the mean time they've managed to navigate some tricky turbulence with the contract changes with United and American. With air passenger travel miles on the rise and fuel prices stabilizing the last hurdle to be cleared was airline pilot costs. The recent successful negotiations of a major airline should help stabilize this expense, too.
Best wishes,
OAG |
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| From: Sam | 3/10/2023 9:26:38 AM | | | | | | United Upgraded on Spring Air Travel Demand. Why Southwest Is Downgraded. -- Barrons.com
Dow Jones Newswires March 10, 2023 07:14:00 AM ET
United Airlines and Alaska Air were both upgraded by Barclays Friday on strong spring air travel demand but the bullishness did not extend to Southwest Airlines, which picked up a downgrade.
U.S. airline stocks have enjoyed a strong rally to start 2023 -- the NYSE Arca Global Airline Index is up 17% since the start of the year. The rally paused briefly last month as investors awaited clues about how the key spring and summer months might shape up.
It's so far, so good -- demand looks to be staying strong and airfares remain elevated.
"Air travel demand remains robust heading into the peak spring-break period, likely supporting favorable guidance from most airline management teams," Barclays analysts, led by Brandon Oglenski said in a note Friday.
With that in mind they upgraded United (ticker: UAL) and Alaska (ALK) to Overweight from Equal Weight.
"We expect the continued recovery in long-haul international travel will drive outsized benefits for United in 2023," they said, also noting that international competition has reduced due to overseas airlines cutting back long-haul fleets. They raised their price target on the stock to $80, from $52, implying a 53% upside to Thursday's closing price.
While spring brings fresh optimism for the sector, even after its impressive start to the year, the same cannot be said for Southwest Airlines (LUV), at least according to Barclays.
The bank's analysts downgraded the stock to Equal Weight from Overweight. The shares have fallen 1.8% so far this year, missing out on the industry's rally as the carrier's holiday travel disruption has weighed on the stock.
"We are concerned the company's IT infrastructure remains outdated compared with peers," Oglenski said, adding that "more aggressive capital investments may be required" to close the gap.
The airline said that after mitigation efforts it is now confident in its ability to respond to irregular operations, in written testimony to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation last month.
It also emerged largely unscathed operationally from severe winter weather in February.
"Southwest completion factor has recovered this winter despite significant weather events, but we would rather move our less-levered "safe" airline Overweight recommendation to Alaska Airlines," Oglenski added.
Write to Callum Keown at callum.keown@barrons.com
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| From: Sam | 3/14/2023 7:19:23 AM | | | | | | United Airlines Stock Is Tumbling. Investors Are Missing the Good News. -- Barrons.com
Dow Jones Newswires March 14, 2023 05:55:00 AM ET
United Airlines stock was the S&P 500's sharpest decliner in premarket trading Tuesday, tumbling 6%, but investors may be overlooking some of the positives from the carrier's latest trading update.
United (ticker: UAL) cut its first-quarter guidance in a filing late Monday, saying it now sees a loss and citing higher jet fuel prices, capacity growth, and lower demand in January and February. But the reasons behind the loss point to a better-than-expected second quarter and leave the door open to full-year earnings estimate upgrades.
Delta Air Lines (DAL) and American Airlines (AAL) are expected to issue updates of their own later at the J.P.Morgan Industrials Conference, which could also have a bearing on how United's guidance is viewed.
United said it expects a loss of 60 cents to $1 a share in the current quarter. In January, United guided for a profit of 50 cents to $1 a share in the quarter. Total revenue per available seat mile will now increase 22% to 23% in the first quarter from 2019 levels, below United's previous guidance for a 25% jump.
But hidden away in the filing was an improvement to the carrier's second-quarter guidance, one that is perhaps being overlooked by the market. Lower demand months are growing less than higher demand months, United said.
That shift in seasonal demand patterns means that while January and February were weaker than expected the coming higher-demand months are set to be stronger.
As a result, United sees operating revenue climbing by a mid-teens percentage from the second quarter of 2022. The analysts' consensus is for a 13.5% rise. Another reason behind the first-quarter loss is United pulling forward costs from a potential pay deal with pilots from the second quarter to the first.
The company also guided for costs per available seat mile, excluding fuel, to be flat for 2023.
J.P.Morgan analyst Jamie Baker said he expects the market to "initially" focus on the first-quarter guidance cut but that other airline trading updates due Tuesday could change that.
"An optimistic embrace of United's disclosure could very well allow some full-year models to improve. But we doubt the market will take this view. More likely, in our opinion, is a disproportionate weighting to the outcome closest at hand; the diminished first quarter guide," Baker said. He has an Overweight rating on the stock with a price target of $ 81.
He added that the updated cost guidance plus improved second-quarter revenue "significantly offsets" the first- quarter disappointment.
The shares closed Monday with a gain of about 30% so far in 2023, outperforming legacy carrier peers American -- up 17% -- and Delta, which has climbed 8.5% since the beginning of the year.
But the stock's retreat in premarket trading is set to erode some of that outperformance, at least for now.
Write to Callum Keown at callum.keown@barrons.com
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| To: Sam who wrote (1796) | 3/14/2023 7:39:51 AM | | From: Sam | | | | Southwest Airlines Unveils 3-part Plan To Avoid Snags That Disrupted Operations During Winter Storm Eliot -- MarketWatch
Dow Jones Newswires March 14, 2023 06:59:00 AM ET
Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) on Tuesday unveiled a three-part Tactical Action Plan that aims to booster operational resiliency across the company. The move comes after the regional airline was forced to cancel thousands of flights due to a severe winter storm that other airlines were able to manage. Cascading cancellations left it without staff to man planes, leading to more cancellations and eventually to a far wider-than-expected first-quarter loss. The carrier is now planning to accelerate operations investments of more than $1.3 billion to upgrade crew optimization software and crew scheduling systems; it will purchase additional de-icing trucks and upgrade winter equipment and preparedness; and it will take steps to align various network planning and network operations control teams under one senior leader for better execution of operational plans. The announcement came ahead of a presentation at a JPMorgan conference later Tuesday. The stock rose 1.6% premarket, but has fallen 23% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has fallen 7.6%.
-Ciara Linnane For more from MarketWatch: marketwatch.com
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| From: Sam | 4/13/2023 8:03:46 AM | | | | | | Why Delta Air Lines Shares Are Gaining Today
BENZINGA 8:02 AM ET 4/13/2023
Symbol Last Price Change | DAL | 33.74 | 0 (0%) | | QUOTES AS OF 04:10:00 PM ET 04/12/2023 |
- Delta Air Lines Inc (NYSE:DAL) shares are up over 2% Thursday morning following the release of its first-quarter results, which were in line with its guidance.
- DAL reported a first-quarter FY23 adjusted operating revenue growth of 45% year-over-year and +14% from 1Q19 to $11.8 billion, missing the consensus of $11.98 billion.
- Operating revenue on a GAAP basis was $12.8 billion (+36% Y/Y).
- Adjusted EPS was $0.25 below the consensus of $0.30.
- Total passenger revenue was $10.41 billion, a 51% increase YoY. Cargo revenue decreased 28% Y/Y to $209 million.
- Delta recorded an adjusted operating income of $546 million, compared to a loss of $(793) million in 1Q22, and the adjusted operating margin was 4.6%.
- Adjusted operating expenses increased by 26% Y/Y to $11.29 billion, and non-fuel costs increased 24% to $8.5 billion for the quarter.
- Delta Air Lines generated an adjusted operating cash flow of $2.94 billion, an increase of 67% Y/Y. Adjusted net debt at quarter-end was flat at about $20.9 billion.
- Total revenue per available seat mile increased by 15% Y/Y and increased 23% Y/Y on an adjusted basis. The passenger load factor was 81% vs. 75% in 1Q22.
- DAL reported liquidity of $9.5 billion at quarter-end, including $2.9 billion in undrawn revolver capacity.
- Adjusted average fuel price of $3.06 per gallon jumped 10% from last year's quarter.
- "We delivered record March quarter revenue with total unit revenue that was 16 percent higher than the same period in 2019. These results reflect the strength in the underlying demand environment and continued momentum in premium products and loyalty revenue," commented Glen Hauenstein, Delta's president.
- 2Q23 Outlook: Delta Air Lines expects revenue growth of 15% - 17%; EPS of $2.00 - $2.25 vs. $1.65 estimate; and an adjusted operating margin of 14% - 16%.
- Reiterates FY23 Outlook: DAL sees EPS of $5 to $6 vs. $5.39 estimate; revenue growth of +15% - 20%; operating margin of 10% - 12%; and free cash flow of more than $2 billion.
- Price Action: DAL shares are trading higher by 2.34% at $34.53 premarket on Thursday.
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| From: Glenn Petersen | 4/30/2023 3:15:24 PM | | | | | | The Path to Abundant Air Travel
Removing regulatory restrictions and other constraints will result in more, cheaper and better options for air travelers
Gary D. Leff
Discourse
April 28, 2023
When it comes to air travel, we need more options. Image Credit: Moment
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More passengers fly within the United States each year than any other country. On many levels, this makes sense, given the size of the U.S. economy, the distances involved, and that aviation is an industry where the U.S. remains highly competitive, from the manufacture of aircraft to the making of jet engines. And supposedly, the industry is also a poster child for deregulation, culminating with 1978’s Airline Deregulation Act.
Yet while there are hundreds of brands of breakfast cereal, there is limited product differentiation from a limited number of U.S. airlines. Moreover, air travel isn’t becoming materially more reliable—the percentage of U.S. domestic on-time arrivals was no greater in 2022 than it was in 2002. We should have more options, and better performance. In short, we need air travel abundance.
The Problem
Contrary to the narrative that today’s airline industry is a deregulatory success story, commercial air travel remains one of the most highly regulated industries in the country. Effectively what changed after 1978 was that the federal government no longer told airlines where they’re allowed to fly, and how much they can charge. That’s no small deal. However, nearly every other element of the experience continues to be dictated—and even directly managed—by the government.
For example, unlike much of the world, such as in Europe and Australia, nearly every U.S. commercial airport is owned by a local government. What’s more, airport security isn’t just regulated to government standards; it’s also mostly carried out directly by the government through the Transportation Security Administration (TSA.) And from the time the plane pushes back from the gate to the time it arrives at its destination, it’s told exactly where to go by air traffic controllers, who are government employees.
Elsewhere in the world you’ll find nonprofit organizations conducting air traffic control, with better technology to direct planes more effectively and efficiently. You’ll also find private security services following government standards. In both cases, these arrangements have been shown to be best practices because the government isn’t simply regulating itself.
The U.S. government isn’t just overinvolved in important areas like air traffic control; it involves itself in mundane decisions as well, and in areas where it is clearly not needed. At the start of the pandemic, for example, when American Airlines wanted to hand out hand sanitizer to passengers, they had to seek buy-in from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). That involved both meetings with their local certificate office (there’s an office of the FAA just for regulating American Airlines) as well as higher-ups in Washington, D.C. You might think that makes sense—perhaps hand sanitizer is flammable—but the FAA had already studied the issue and found little risk.
The meetings were performative and completely unnecessary. But this kind of thing is very common; nearly every element of the customer’s air travel experience involves the government. This in turn can descend into farce. For instance, when airlines want to add doors to business class seats, they need to ask permission from the FAA because it requires an exemption to federal regulations. When American Airlines recently asked permission, the FAA refused to consider their submission—because the electronic letterhead the airline used in its request didn’t list its address.
This extensive and largely unnecessary regulation, layered on top of specific rules that limit entry into the market, constrains the availability of air travel. That means it’s less convenient and more expensive to travel—but even more than that, it means the products airlines offer us are much more limited.
So, what should we do? Here are a few simple suggestions that will lead to cheaper, better and more abundant air travel.
Legalize New Airlines
It’s nearly impossible to get approved for a new airline. That’s why new entrants usually buy up existing operating certificates from nearly defunct carriers.
For example, one of two significant airline startups to launch service during the pandemic was Avelo Airlines, founded by Andrew Levy, the former CFO of United Airlines and chief operating officer of Allegiant. But Levy didn’t just start a new airline, he took some of his financing and bought Xtra Airways, a shell of a carrier that had already sold off its fleet—save for one ancient Boeing 737-400, so it could retain its FAA Air Carrier Certification.
Even if you can start a new airline, you are limited in how much money you can take from foreign businesses and airlines. So long-established foreign carriers, like Air France and Japan Airlines, aren’t allowed to control U.S. carriers, or even operate flights within the U.S. As a result, the last major carrier to launch was Virgin America in 2007, since acquired by Alaska Airlines. And that startup was delayed by issues over whether it was really controlled by U.S. investors—or by Virgin Atlantic founder Richard Branson’s group in the U.K.
There hasn’t just been a failure to start new airlines. The number of airlines in the U.S. has shrunk markedly, declining by over 70% during the past 30 years as a result of mergers and bankruptcies. While the largest airlines today have significantly more reach than they did 20 years ago, and U.S. air travel has grown overall in the past two decades, small cities aren’t served by non-stop flights to nearly the same extent that they used to be. The share of airline trips under 500 miles has fallen in half, to just 14%, representing a loss of 30 million travelers. What’s more, many small cities have lost commercial service altogether.
Meanwhile, with ultra-low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines having entered into an agreement to be purchased by JetBlue, it would be great not to lose a low-fare competitor. So, we should welcome Ireland’s Ryanair, Britain’s easyJet or some other low-cost foreign carrier into the U.S. market. At the higher end, Singapore Airlines makes investments in foreign carriers. It would be great to see a prestige airline like Singapore or Emirates enter the U.S. market. The entrance of these and other low-cost and prestige airlines into the U.S. market would boost competition, which in turn would mean lower costs, better service and more options.
More Capacity
To grow airline capacity, we need to expand airports, move more aircraft through our airspace, and hire more people to fly the planes. Yet we don’t have the gates or runways to expand air travel. And, not surprisingly, the current limits favor incumbent airlines and the status quo, not innovation.
Airport construction is constrained by the same problems that plague so many other public infrastructure projects. Thanks to factors such as overregulation and NIMBYism it’s difficult to build a new airport (the last new major one built in the U.S. was Denver International—which opened in 1995) or even build a new runway. In the U.S. there are very few private commercial airports. Local governments could unlock over $130 billion privatizing the largest airports, but the path to do so is incredibly cumbersome.
The most congested U.S. airports, New York’s JFK and LaGuardia, and Washington’s Reagan National, have limits on the number of takeoffs and landings that are permitted. The government has given existing airlines “slots,” or takeoff and landing rights, and these are effectively subsidies for incumbent carriers that keep out competition. We should auction takeoff and landing slots, rather than granting property rights to airlines (that they can use or sell). Another idea is to use congestion pricing to allocate scarce resources to their greatest value use.
It can be difficult for airlines to enter a new market even without slot controls. Long-term gate leases and regulatory capture at government-controlled airports have allowed incumbent carriers to maintain their hold on major hubs.
Meanwhile, attempts to modernize air traffic control have floundered for 30 years. The FAA manages major projects badly, but the effort is also constrained by trying to make capital investments within annual congressional appropriations cycles, which stifles the kind of long-term spending plans that are needed for these types of projects. As a result, we still largely use radar rather than GPS and voice rather than digital communication, and we are only just now switching from paper flight strips (including changes to speed and altitude that are handwritten) to electronic data to manage traffic flow.
The private nonprofit NavCanada (which rolled out electronic flight strips way back in 2002!) oversees not just Canadian airspace but also the North Atlantic. It operates much more cost efficiently than the FAA. And they’re way ahead technologically as well. In contrast, having one agency that is both regulator and service provider (self-regulation, but by government) was identified as a poor practice by the International Civil Aviation Organization, all the way back in 2001. The U.S. is one of just a few countries out of compliance with arms-length safety guidelines.
Spinning off air traffic control into a private entity would be better for accountability and allow for more targeted and consistent investment. Meanwhile the FAA’s Office of Inspector General has found that attempts to modernize air traffic control within the agency have wasted billions of dollars. And things aren’t likely to get better because FAA management and procurement problems are endemic.
More Pilots
It’s all well and good to remove barriers to starting an airline and to create more airport capacity, but there aren’t enough pilots because the government has instituted rules making it more difficult, time-consuming and costly to become a pilot—rules that have nothing to do with safety.
Up until 2013, pilots had to have a commercial license, which required 250 hours of flying, in addition to being type-rated for the specific aircraft they were flying. Following the 2009 Colgan Air crash, the requirement was increased for most candidates to 1,500 hours even though the two pilots involved in that crash already had over 1,500 hours. (The captain of the downed plane had 3,379 hours.)
Not everyone needs 1,500 hours. Military pilots are allowed to fly with 750 hours, those with a B.A. in aviation can fly with 1,000 hours, and those with an associate degree in aviation can fly with 1,250 hours. But even these requirements are onerous and unnecessary—certainly for a co-pilot.
Except for the hours of flight time, on top of a commercial license, pilots don’t have specific objectives or proficiency requirements. It’s just a time requirement. What’s more, there is absolutely no relationship between safety and the 1,500-hour rule—a rule that no other nation has adopted. And, of course, the U.S. allows pilots from nations without such a rule to fly here and depart from U.S. airports. There could be better training and testing with more structured flying instruction that’s easier, more meaningful and less expensive to accomplish. The only thing the 1,500-hour rule does is serve union interests by limiting entry into the profession.
Development of New Aircraft
We should ensure that new aircraft are safe—but we shouldn’t unnecessarily delay new technology in the name of safety. New aircraft in recent decades haven’t become substantially more advanced. Indeed, Boeing’s latest narrowbody, the 737 MAX, was designed to be as close as possible to earlier 737 models. And while materials and electronics have become more complicated, fundamental propulsion technology has remained the same. That could be about to change—if we don’t stifle innovation.
United, along with Mesa Airlines, ordered 200 small electric planes from Archer Aviation. These vertical takeoff and landing planes (eVTOLs), flying up to 150 mph for up to 60 miles, aim to whisk passengers from urban downtowns to United’s hubs in the next couple years. The estimated cost for the flight from Manhattan to JFK airport, for example, would be about $50.
American Airlines has pre-ordered 250 similar aircraft from Vertical Aerospace and taken options on 100 more planes that promise to “carry four passengers and a pilot and fly at speeds up to 200 mph over a range of over 100 miles.” These eVTOLs could be operational “as early as 2024,” according to the company. In reality, however, electric-powered planes may be further off than hoped for due to FAA regulatory hurdles.
As transportation researcher Bob Poole explains, the FAA has unnecessarily complicated the airplane certification process for these new types of planes: “[J]ust about everyone in the emerging eVTOL industry assumed that type certificates [which certify an airplane’s safety and airworthiness] were to be handled under… the same regulation used to certify conventional commercial airliners. FAA would have attached special conditions to the… regs to account for the ability of eVTOLs to take off and land vertically. Instead, FAA has decided to define these new aircraft as “powered lift” vehicles to be certified under… special class rules.” Since those don’t exist for aircraft like this, the government needs to create a set of rules before flight can be allowed.
In contrast, a more conventional regulatory process will be used in Europe, which means, in essence, that the U.S. is saying European safety regulators can’t be trusted (an odd thing after various Boeing debacles), and that manufacturers will have to pursue two completely distinct processes.
A Future Where Airlines Innovate
Today we see some startup airlines trying to find workarounds for rules that have limited innovation. For instance, JSX is an air carrier that operates regional jets with just 30 seats and flies in and out of private airports, allowing passengers to skip busy commercial airports and TSA checkpoints. More than one executive at a major airline has told me that as JSX grows and becomes more of a competitive threat to expect lobbying of Congress and the FAA to disallow their business model. The bulk of JSX flights occur between cities less than 500 miles apart, which have otherwise seen a significant decline in service.
If we allow the creation of more new airlines, if we allow foreign investment and expertise into the domestic airline business, and if we relax the restrictions that keep airports and airspace congested and create a scarcity of trained pilots, we’ll have more abundant and better air travel. Ultimately it’s about eliminating the artificial constraints to efficiency and new competition.
We can have a future where travel is an easier, cheaper and more pleasant experience—where we’re delayed less often and where commercial airlines genuinely compete with a host of different products so we can buy the one that suits us best instead of one size fits all. But to have this kind of abundance, we need a more open and competitive system that focuses on passengers and their needs rather than existing airlines and other special interests.
The Path to Abundant Air Travel - Discourse (discoursemagazine.com) |
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| From: Sam | 5/4/2023 8:03:10 AM | | | | | | Delta's pilot deal turns up the heat on rival airlines' union negotiations
Reuters May 04, 2023 06:00:00 AM ET
May 4 (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines' industry-changing pilot contract that offers $7 billion in higher pay and benefits is putting pressure on rival carriers to hand out similar deals ahead of a busy summer travel season.
Any proposal that falls short of Delta's deal will likely have no takers among the unions, but airline executives say even matching that contract could balloon operating costs at a time when a worsening economy has clouded travel outlook. The Delta deal, working conditions and other topics will be discussed at a global conference of pilots in Montreal through Sunday.
"Delta is out there as a marker," American Airlines CFO Devon May told Reuters. "That's what we are looking towards as we are working with our pilots union to get a deal done."
The Fort Worth, Texas-based carrier has estimated that matching Delta's offer will cost it about $8 billion over four years. American Airlines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines are all in the middle of contract negotiations with their pilots.
Southwest and United have not quantified the potential impact publicly, but both expect a marked increase in non-fuel operating costs.
Jason Ambrosi, head of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) and an architect of Delta's deal, told Reuters the big increases in pay rates and benefits will not break airlines. They serve as a way for pilots to make up for concessions made during earlier crises like after Sept. 11, he said.
"Guess what? That's what pilots are worth," Ambrosi said. "I'm not going to make any excuses for why we got the deal we got."
But some industry officials say hefty raises for pilots will likely spark demands for similar deals from flight attendants and other workers, potentially resulting in millions of dollars in additional costs.
Delta, whose earnings have recovered from pandemic lows faster than rivals, has to deal with just one major union. Its flight attendants are not unionized. But American, United and Southwest have unions with multiple worker groups.
Delta's deal has put competitors in a bind.
One Southwest official, who asked not to be identified discussing labor talks, said the company is "realistic" about the situation and any deal less than Delta's would likely be voted down.
Airlines have leaned on higher ticket prices amid strong travel demand to mitigate cost pressures, but consumer spending is at risk.
MARKET SHIFT
Industry executives say Delta's agreement has shifted the market. The carrier's pilot union said it made no concessions in the deal, which included dozens of work-rule improvements and quality-of-life related items.
In an update to its members this week, United's pilot union said it is seeking similar improvements.
Dennis Tajer, a spokesman for American's pilots union, said while pilots are not ready to sacrifice market-linked compensation, work-life balance and scheduling certainty have become a far bigger priority.
"The new currency for our pilots, regardless of age, is quality of life," he said. "Delta came in and changed what pilots believed was possible."
American pilots have voted to authorize a strike if a new employment contract isn't reached. Southwest pilots are voting for a similar measure and United pilots are picketing.
While pilots cannot walk off the job until the National Mediation Board grants them permission, union officials warn further delays will make it harder to attract and retain talent and that impacts airlines' flight schedules.
United executives declined to provide a timeline for the pilot deal. They said the airline has the pilots it needs to fly its summer schedule.
American has said it has as much as 50 underused mainline jets and about 150 regional aircraft grounded because of a shortage of pilots.
Tajer, the union rep for American's pilots, said while the company is not facing a problem in attracting pilots, it is hard pressed for enough instructors to train them. A deal will increase the population of instructor pilots, he added.
Southwest, too, has a surplus of under-utilized aircraft. Casey Murray, head of the Dallas-based airline's pilot union, said it has lost more pilots in the first four months of this year than it did in all of 2022.
ALPA's Ambrosi said any gains at larger airlines will also be felt at mid-sized players like JetBlue, Spirit , and Frontier, which will have to pay competitive wage to retain pilots or else will have an "attrition issue."
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| From: Sam | 5/11/2023 10:50:26 PM | | | | | | United Airlines pilots want higher pay rates than Delta, says union head
Reuters May 11, 2023 02:53:00 PM ET
CHICAGO (Reuters) - United Airlines will need to offer higher pay rates than what rival Delta Air Lines gave to its pilots under a new contract, its pilot union head Garth Thompson said. |
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