Flights: New In The Air Line Pilots Association Canada

The Air Line Pilots Association of Canada along with Lufthansa, Aeromar and Aviacsa met Tuesday to determine his next step after a new tentative agreement faced stiff opposition from union members last week. While no decision was by press time, not just Air Canada pilots seeing the result of those discussions.

The Air Canada regional partners, including Chorus Aviation Inc. and its subsidiary, Jazz Air LP, also have significant skin in the game.

Management plans was to launch a new low cost and pass the new employees in a different pension plan for pilots irritated. But the so-called "scope of protection" contained in the contract could potentially limit the maximum amount of flying Air Canada regional partners can be done in his name, and additional work open to competitors.

Air Canada has already taken small steps in this direction by awarding a new contract Express Air Canada to Toronto Island to Sky Regional Airlines Inc., instead of Jazz as many expected.

Jazz is still guaranteed a minimum amount of flying with Air Canada until 2020 through its capacity purchase agreement, where the main line effectively all purchases of regional positions Jazz at a fixed rate and sold again market and determines their schedule.

But that small amount, 375,000 flight hours billable per year, far below what the company expects to fly in 2011 between 380,000 and 395,000 billable hours block. And changes in the arrangement of the important drivers of ten "may limit the rise in Jazz and Choir in the coming years.

Capacity in the airline business is measured per seat / mile available [ASM]. Under the tentative agreement with its pilots, Air Canada has agreed to limit the amount of capacity allocated to its regional partners for 29% of its available seat miles flies in North America with its narrow-body fleet widebody aircraft.

If Air Canada were to fly more than that, it would have to add more aircraft to its fleet of long haul.

The new limit is dramatically lower than the previous limit, according to the documents attached to the agreement of provisional drivers. And consider that jazz has a monopoly on this flight, rising regional airline may be limited, said Chris Murray, PI Financial Corp. analyst.

"If the new ASM limit comes into force, likely to limit future growth between levels 2 and 3 carriers, of which Jazz is an important part," he said.

Choir has been courting new business out of Air Canada in recent years, including flying a fleet of 757 on behalf of Thomas Cook to winter sun destinations. But in 2010, his CPA with Air Canada still accounted for 98% of its sales, according to the annual report of the company.

Neither Canada nor air Coro commented on the proposed changes to the contract on Tuesday that the pilots.

However, other Air Canada unions have also been looking at the cold reception received tentative agreement ACPA pilots.

Administration presented its plan for low-cost airline Air Canada component of CUPE, which represents flight attendants at 6,500 of the airline, on Tuesday. Jeff Taylor, president of the division of CUPE representing flight attendants, would not comment on the plan, but said his union did not consider moving new hires in a defined contribution plan and the proposed interim agreement ACPA.

"We have been in talks with other unions, and nobody is really entertaining any pension concessions," he said.