FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Captain Dennis Tajer, 847-902-8481; Gregg Overman, 817-302-2250/817-312-3901
ALLIED PILOTS ASSOCIATION: NORWEGIAN AIR INTERNATIONAL’S PERMIT WAS “A BAD DECISION ON A BAD DEAL”
FORT WORTH, Texas (Dec. 3, 2016) — Late Friday, the Obama administration and the federal Department of Transportation (DOT) made clear that their vision of trade policy means trading good U.S. jobs for foreign jobs.
“In a sharp contrast with President-elect Trump’s efforts to preserve U.S. jobs, our current DOT went in the opposite direction, making a bad decision on a bad deal,” said Captain Dan Carey, president of the Allied Pilots Association (APA).
The DOT has approved a foreign air carrier permit for Norwegian Air International (NAI), thus endorsing that company’s scheme to establish itself as an Irish carrier so it can avoid Norway’s labor laws and begin shopping for the cheapest pilot labor in Singapore and Thailand. Clearly, this is a blatant flag-of-convenience scheme.
“Not only will the DOT’s horrific decision destroy thousands of good, middle-class American jobs and decimate our nation’s airline industry, it also runs counter to efforts by hundreds of thousands of U.S. aviation workers to ensure that our industry provides the highest level of safety and security standards for our passengers across the globe,” said Captain Mike Karn, president of the Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations, which includes APA.
APA’s Dan Carey added, “We are hopeful that President-elect Trump’s recent decisive actions to protect U.S. jobs and his vision of putting America first will be applied to immediately reversing this job-killing decision by the DOT. We are also encouraging Congress to act swiftly by passing H.R. 5090 as a conclusive remedy.”
Founded in 1963, the Allied Pilots Association — the largest independent pilots union in the United States — is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. APA represents the 15,000 pilots of American Airlines, including several hundred pilots on full-time military leave of absence serving in the armed forces. The union’s website is www.AlliedPilots.org. American Airlines is the world’s largest passenger airline.