More than 1,300 Southwest Airlines pilots stood at a picket line in Dallas on Tuesday, citing unfair working conditions and inadequate pay, according to the pilots’ union.
“The pilots of Southwest have been negotiating a contract with the company for more than two years, with no new contracts,” the union said in a statement to NBC News. ,
Pilots in the commercial airline industry have drawn attention to chronic staff shortages, which have forced carriers to delay or cancel many flights.
Southwest Airlines told NBC News in a statement that it “respects the rights of our employees to express their views, and we do not expect any disruption of service as a result of this single exposure.”
“For 51 years, we have maintained a renowned Southwest culture that respects our valued employees,” said Carrier.
Staffing shortages are compounded by two convergent forces: a surge in travel thanks to the global easing of pandemic restrictions and the summer getaway season. The Transportation Security Administration has said it is processing the most passenger screening since 2019, of more than 2.4 million daily commuters, as of June 20.
The extra traffic, as well as the reduced number of pilots and flight crew, has resulted in severe headaches for passengers. But some pilots are pointing fingers at their own airlines.
Captain Casey A. Murray, a pilot and president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, has previously said that pilots “have been under a lot of stress for the past year,” noting that repeated flight reassignments have left pilots feeling exhausted and frustrated. .
Murray said at least 30% of pilots are being redeployed everyday. Southwest has about 9,600 pilots, he said, but declined to say how many more people needed to be hired to address the shortfall.
Murray said failures to attach pilots to airplanes are sometimes due to weather events and staff shortages, and sometimes for unknown reasons.
“If you continue to abuse us, you will have a staff crunch,” Murray said.
Few flight executives have acknowledged the challenges the industry currently faces. On the quarterly earnings call in April, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said “the pilot shortage for the industry is real.”
“Most airlines are not going to be able to realize their capacity plans because there are not enough pilots, at least not for more than the next five years,” he said.
Airlines have also struggled with other routine disruptions like recent weather and flight cancellations. JetBlue Airways, Delta Air Lines, Spirit Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Alaska Airlines have already reduced their spring and summer itineraries to give themselves more room to deal with disruptions.
Deon J. Hampton contributed.
