APA News Digest

Aug. 1, 2025

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In This Edition ...

• Summer Board Meeting Begins Monday
• National Town Hall Scheduled for Aug. 11
• Aeromedical Committee: Be Aware of Mislabeled Alcohol
• Investor Relations Committee: Analysts Chime in on AAL Results
• Family Awareness Committee: MIA to Host Joint Fini Flight Celebration
• Family Awareness Committee: Thanks to Everyone Who Contributed at Oshkosh
• Membership Committee: APA Welcomes Leadership Class
• APA Medical Minute – Type 2 Diabetes
• Domicile Elections
• Domicile Events
• Week in Review
• Are You Willing to Serve?
• Professional Standards FAQ
• If You’re 50, Join The Grey Eagles
• Pilot Job Fair and Future Pilot Seminar

Summer Board Meeting Begins Monday

The APA Board of Directors will convene at union headquarters in Fort Worth on Aug. 4 for its regularly scheduled summer meeting.

The meeting agenda will include a Membership and Guest Hour on the first day immediately following the APA President’s report. Policy stipulates that “Any APA member(s) in good standing or, with the consent of the Board, a guest of a member shall be allowed to address the board. Allocation of time will be 60 minutes divided by the number of members/guests desiring to speak; however, no individual will be afforded more than 10 minutes, including any questions/ answers by the Board. Members and guests must advise the meeting Chair of their desire to address the Board.” Please email asmith@alliedpilots.org if you wish to address the Board.

The Board is scheduled to receive briefings from the following during the meeting:

• Advanced Aircraft and Flight Systems Subcommittee
• Aeromedical Committee
• APA-ALPA Merger Negotiation Committee
• Communications Committee
• Economic & Financial Analysis Committee
• Internal Compensation and Expenses Committee
• Investor Relations Committee
• Joint Implementation Action Committee
• National Communications Network
• Negotiating Committee
• Strategic Planning Committee
• Training Committee

The Board may also consider these resolutions during the meeting:

• R2025-21, “PUIF Clarification”
• R2025-22, “Committee Election Procedures”
• R2025-23, “Scheduling Committee Updates”
• R2025-24, “Committee Election Stalemate”
• R2025-25, “AdMan Reporting Requirements”
• R2025-26, “APA Staff 401k Fund Change”
• R2025-27, “Resolving Election Stalemates”
• R2025-28, “Authorization of Monetary Obligations”
• R2025-29, “Quarterly Domicile Meetings & Resolutions”
• R2025-30, “Apprentice Membership Dues Rate”
• R2025-31, “Instructor Evaluator Committee”
• R2025-32, “Committee Realignment”
• R2025-33, “Executive Advisor to the President”
• R2025-34, “Conversion of Pay to Max to Hourly Stipend”
• R2025-35, “Pay to Max DEA Changes”

National Town Hall Scheduled for Aug. 11

APA President FO Nick Silva, APA Vice President CA Chris Torres, and APA Secretary-Treasurer FO Philip Johnson will host a national town hall meeting at 1600 Central on Aug. 11. Click here to register for the meeting. Registering in advance will enable email reminders.

To ensure maximum participation, all members in good standing will receive a call from Telephone Town Hall Meeting, the vendor that assists APA with its town halls, at 1600 Central on Aug. 11. Pilots who are not in a position to watch the town hall meeting via Zoom will be able to listen via their phones. The number that will appear in your caller ID is 817-302-2171. We encourage you to add this number to your contacts.

To submit questions in advance, please send an email to TownHall@alliedpilots.org.

Be Aware of Mislabeled Alcohol

This is a new message from the APA Aeromedical Committee.

Pilots need to be aware of a product recall that could affect your ability to fly.

Celsius energy drinks and High Noon vodka seltzers are manufactured by different companies but are packaged by the same third-party supplier. This supplier inadvertently put High Noon’s product into some Celsius cans, “meaning some caffeine-seekers may be downing spiked seltzer instead,” according to National Public Radio.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said the recalled cans were sent to retailers in Florida, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Virginia, and Wisconsin between July 21 and July 23. They are labeled as the “Sparkling Blue Razz” flavor of Celsius’ Astro Vibe line.

• FDA recall announcement
• Celsius recall announcement
• National Public Radio article

Please remain vigilant regarding this product.

Analysts Chime in on AAL Results

This is a new message from the APA Investor Relations Committee.

In its summary of American Airlines’ second-quarter earnings results, the APA Economic and Financial Analysis Committee noted the following: “American continues to make incremental progress in recovering from past decisions. The health of the balance sheet continues to improve, albeit slowly, and the full recapture of indirect revenue lost to the failed “NDC” strategy of 2024 is expected by year end. While there is little cause for concern over solvency, there is also little hope for improvements to competitive standing given management’s commitment to a network approach which has thus far proven inferior.”

During the airline’s July 24 earnings call with analysts, CEO Robert Isom characterized two things that distinguish American from its competitors: The airline pays its employees “at market wages” while others “are benefiting from not doing that,” and American is “more oriented to the domestic network,” which has been “under stress because of uncertainty in the economy and the reluctance of domestic passengers to get in the game.”

The committee has also published second-quarter earnings results summaries for Delta Air Lines and United Airlines.

Below are excerpts from Wall Street analysts’ notes to investors regarding Americans’s second-quarter results.

Jamie Baker of J.P. Morgan:

• “American leaned into similar themes as did Delta and United, but the magnitude of American’s output remains lower.”
• “Thankfully, all three airlines agreed on the well-chronicled positive demand inflection currently seen in forward bookings, as well as improving Corporate trends. But while the fundamental thesis remains intact, we’d still characterize Thursday as largely disappointing, though supportive of United’s thesis that profit share may continue to disproportionately skew away from those that can’t successfully cultivate Loyalty, Premium and International (and we continue to hope American more aggressively engages on this front).”
• “American strikes the right themes, but with underwhelming magnitude – American’s talking points were, as expected, similar to those of Delta and United; Premium outpacing Main, International RASM strong across all entities, Loyalty spend on the rise, and so on. There’s no question in our mind that American is deserving of being painted with the same thematic brush as its Global Premium peers. It’s just the magnitude of its output that disappoints. To wit, figures 2 & 3 illustrate American’s operating margin relative to both Delta and United. The bad news is that the deficit to United, in particular, has been steadily widening. The good news, and perhaps not sufficiently captured by our LTM analysis, is that relative trends in 2025 thus far appear to be stabilizing.”
• “We believe management missed an opportunity in regards to our question – On the call, we referenced United’s recent observation that the bulk of US airlines appear to be generating double-digit percentages of their capacity at a loss, a trend United (and J.P.Morgan) believes is unsustainable in the long run.”
• “When we queried its CEO as to this observation and whether American could articulate a path towards an acceptably-low % of loss-producing capacity, he cited disparate industry labor costs and American’s domestic-heavy network construct (roughly a 70/30 domestic/international split, relative to DAL & UAL which are closer to 55/45). But Delta’s labor costs are fully-baked at this point, as are Southwest’s, and United emphasized that its pending FA contract (currently out for ratification) is incorporated in its guidance. Granted, Alaska still has to achieve unified labor contracts as part of its Hawaiian merger, but we doubt that’s what Robert Isom was referring to. So, the labor response doesn’t really resonate with us. True, with enough domestic recovery – and perhaps a franchise stepping completely out of the business in coming years – there’s merit to American’s network observation that domestic could eventually become a stronger tailwind.”

Sheila Kahyaoglu of Jefferies:

• “(AAL) Q2 and ’25 adj EBITDAR margins continue to lag UAL/DAL by MSD (mid-single digit) % pts (vs 1.2pts in ’18), but the plan ahead is squarely focused on narrowing this (Ex 1). This includes investments in the new CX (commercial) org, hard product improvements w/ Flagship Suites, premium lounge expansions, & the new credit card deal online in Jan ’25 that drops-in $1.5BB of incremental profit by '30 (AAdvantage acquisitions +7% YTD w/ co-brand spend +6% in Q2).”
• “$2.5BB of FCF YTD, Not Too Shabby. Mgmt continues to expect positive FCF generation in ’25 w/ our est. of ~breakeven. FWIW, YTD FCF of $2.5BB is on par w/ DAL’s $2.0BB and UAL’s $3.4BB. Total debt down to $38BB at Q2 end w/ pathway to <$35BB by YE27, w/ net debt of $29BB the lowest it has been since 2015.”

Savanthi Syth of Raymond James:

• “American’s $(0.10)-(0.60) 3Q25 EPS guidance is well below our/consensus’ pre-release forecasts (Exhibit 8) on a slightly weaker revenue outlook and greater fuel and non-fuel pressure. While disappointing, American believes the top end of the $(0.20)-0.80 2025 EPS range (Exhibit 9) is achievable if demand in the domestic market continues to strengthen and only expects to be at the bottom end of the range if there were to be macro weaknesses that are not seen today. We believe this reflects the conservatism characteristic of American.”

Scott Group of Wolfe Research:

• “Our estimates are well below Consensus for AAL, but we see a more favorable price-cost story in C26 including the ramp of its new credit card deal. So, we retain our Outperform rating, but valuation is clearly more attractive in our view for UAL and DAL.”

MIA to Host Joint Fini Flight Celebration

This is a new message from the APA Family Awareness Committee.

A joint Fini Flight celebration happened at ORD in June.

Attention, pilots who did not get a Fini Flight celebration on their last flight:

Maybe you took an early-out during the pandemic or turned 65 while on long-term disability. APA and American Airlines invite you to put your uniform on one last time and join us for a Fini Flight ceremony at MIA on Oct. 24. You do not need to be officially retired or age 65 to participate.

Following the ceremony, our photographer will take flight-deck photos with you and your family. The event will conclude with a group dinner.

A joint Fini Flight celebration happened at DFW in January.

If you want to participate, please let us know by emailing finiflight@alliedpilots.org or by calling FO Tim Jackson at 847-809-8888.

Thanks to Everyone Who Contributed at Oshkosh

This is a new message from the APA Family Awareness Committee.

During this year’s edition of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, the union hosted a total of approximately 1,000 APA pilots and family members at our nightly happy hours and dinners. One of the dinners featured Medal of Honor recipient Leroy Petry, who was on board Old Glory Honor Flight’s 11th Yellow Ribbon flight on its round trip to and from Washington, D.C. Operated by American Airlines, the flight honored 94 Vietnam veterans.

Members of the Aeromedical Committee’s Critical Incident Response Program Subcommittee, the Communications Committee, the Government Affairs Committee, the Membership Committee, the Professional Standards Committee, and the Safety Committee were on hand to provide updates and answer questions, along with APA Vice President CA Chris Torres, APA Secretary-Treasurer FO Phil Johnson, ORD Domicile Chair CA Wes Smith, and ORD Domicile Vice Chair FO Paul Meyers.

The Family Awareness Committee would like to acknowledge the following volunteers for their tireless efforts throughout the week:

• CA Tim Knutson, Dawn Knutson, Claire Knutson, and Heidi Knutson
• CA Eric Rehm and Beth Rehm
• FO Tim Jackson and Jen Johnson
• FO Brian Krueger
• FO Dennis Leiva
• FO Brian Cowell
• Brian Spiro
• FO Laura Ahrenholtz and Ava Ahrenholtz
• CA (ret.) Ken Krizman
• CA Andrea Hoover
• CA Steve Pacheco

APA Welcomes Leadership Class

This is a new message from the APA Membership Committee.

Click the image for a closer look.

On July 30, the Membership Committee hosted a casual dinner for the following pilots who were in Fort Worth for American Airlines’ Professionalism, Leadership, and Mentoring class: Jesse Batha, Manuel Buelna Jr., Justin Carrick, Charles Hoover, Robert Leslie, William Liess, Shalyn Marchetti, Ryan Mauldin, Tammy Mlecko, Haden Neumeier, and Wade Riley.

APA Medical Minute – Type 2 Diabetes

In this encore edition of the APA Medical Minute, APA Medical Advisor Christopher Ryan addresses type 2 diabetes, including its diagnosis, medication, and the diabetes status report that must be submitted to the FAA.

Domicile Elections

When there are four or more candidates for a domicile position, the APA Constitution and Bylaws calls for a Nomination Round that winnows the field to three.

These PHX candidates’ resumes are posted on the Elections page on AlliedPilots.org:

PHX Chair
CA Richard Baker
CA William Price
CA Jeremy Ryder
CA Mitch Vasin

PHX Vice Chair
CA Nicholas Chaplin
FO Jadan Joyner-Fields
CA John McIlvenna
FO Adrian Osio

The Nomination Round voting period for PHX will be open from 0900 Central on Aug. 6 until 0900 Central on Aug. 28. The deadline for receipt of mailed paper ballots is 1000 Central on Aug. 28.

Each eligible PHX pilot should receive a notice in the mail containing a unique Voting PIN and voting instructions. It is important that you retain this letter, as you will need the same Voting PIN for all rounds of the election. Each eligible PHX pilot should also receive his or her unique Voting PIN and voting instructions via an email from APA’s elections vendor, Sequent.

Domicile Events

Dozens of LAX pilots and their families gathered at Petco Park on July 28 to watch the San Diego Padres earn a walk-off win over the New York Mets. You can see more photos from the game on Facebook.

Visit AlliedPilots.org/Calendar to RSVP for any of these upcoming domicile events:

• BOS: Telephone Town Hall Meeting on Aug. 5; New England Summer Lobstah Pier Picnic on Aug. 23
• DCA: Kentmoor Fly-in/Drive-in/Boat-In on Aug. 19; Baltimore Orioles game on Sept. 24
• DFW: Texas Rangers game on Aug. 24; Retirement Party on Sept. 6
• LAX: San Diego Lunch on Aug. 12; Dana Point Lunch on Aug. 14; Redondo Beach Lunch on Aug. 19; Domicile Meeting on Aug. 28
• LGA: Telephone Town Hall Meeting on Aug. 5; New York Mets game on Aug. 31
• MIA: TPA Gathering at Yard House on Aug. 31; Tampa Bay Rays game on Sept. 1; Retirement Party on Oct. 4
• ORD: Telephone Town Hall Meeting on Aug. 5
• PHL: Telephone Town Hall Meeting on Aug. 5
• PHX: IMAX Training on Aug. 12; Arizona Diamondbacks game on Sept. 24

Week in Review

Here are some recent messages you may have missed:

• Secretary-Treasurer: Verify Your Contact Information
• Communications Committee: APA’s Grievance Team Delivers $4 Million to the Pilot Group
• Communications Committee: Tsunami Warning Issued for Hawaii

Are You Willing to Serve?

Each of these national committees or subcommittees has the indicated number of vacancies:

• Aeromedical Committee (0)
  • Disabled Pilot Awareness Subcommittee (3)
  • Human Intervention Motivational Study Subcommittee (1)
  • Pilot Occupational Health Subcommittee (2)
• Captain’s Authority Committee (2)
• Communications Committee (0)
  • National Communications Network (2)
• Grey Eagles Liaison Committee (1)
• Retirement and Benefits Committee (1)*
• Safety Committee (0)
  • Air Traffic and Procedures Subcommittee (1)
• Training Committee (0)
  • Checkmate Subcommittee (1 on 777)

* Seeking volunteer with financial services experience and possible AIF®, CFP®, or related designations.

If you would like to serve on one or more of these committees, visit the Member Engagement Portal.

Professional Standards FAQs

Does Professional Standards only handle pilot-to-pilot issues?
No! We support our pilots in the performance of their duties and interaction with many other entities. Almost every person with whom a pilot engages during day-to-day operations enjoys union representation. We have established relationships for working through issues with gate agents (CWA/IBT), flight attendants (APFA), dispatchers (PAFCA), and maintenance (TWU/IAM). In addition, we also work closely with ALPA, NATCA (air traffic controllers), SWAPA, USAOA (Cathay Pacific), and all of our regional carriers. In collaboration with the APA Jumpseat/Non-Rev committee, we also handle cases that arise between pilots of other carriers. In a nutshell: if you face a challenge with another employee, let us be your first call.

To read all of the FAQs, click here.

Professional Standards’ 24/7 hotline: 817-402-2181

If You’re 50, Join The Grey Eagles

Are you a pilot for American Airlines, at least age 50, active or retired? Please join The Grey Eagles for food, fun, and fellowship. We offer cruises, conventions, monthly luncheons, retirement dinners, professional mentoring, and assistance to surviving spouses – all for a one-time lifetime fee. Our next cruise, a nine-night excursion across the southern Caribbean, launches Oct. 9.

Pilot Job Fair and Future Pilot Seminar

The Future & Active Pilot Alliance’s next Pilot Job Fair and Future Pilot Seminar are scheduled for Aug. 23 at Aviation High School near LGA. Click here for more information.

Industry News

For more about what’s happening in the industry, be sure to visit the Industry News page on AlliedPilots.org.