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Endeavor Air and Delta Air Lines Announce “EtD” Program for New-Hires

Today, Delta Air Lines and Endeavor Air announced a program they hope will address Endeavor’s inability to attract new pilots. That program is called “Endeavor to Delta” or “EtD,” and it amounts (with a few conditions) to a flow-through to Delta for new-hires only. The MEC recognizes how crucial new-hire pilots are to the future of this airline, and we have insisted for many months that some fundamental problems need to be fixed in order to attract applicants. However, we are angered and disappointed that Delta and Endeavor have chosen to seek solutions to their own difficulties without addressing the concerns of our current pilots.

This announcement comes after several months of the company not being able to fill its new-hire classes. The staffing shortage caused by the lack of hiring has caused Endeavor to turn away flying and park aircraft, and this has affected Delta’s business plan for our carrier. The proposed solution is to offer what Delta and Endeavor perceive prospective new-hires want most, a guaranteed job at Delta, while ignoring the appeals of current Endeavor pilots to increase the SSP success rate, bring our pay in line with the industry average, establish benefits commensurate with our status as a wholly-owned subsidiary, and publish the “real” fleet plan so that our own pilots and prospective new-hires alike can evaluate their options.

Over the course of several days of negotiations with Endeavor Air and Delta management last month, the MEC stressed the need for a more comprehensive solution which would demonstrate a level of commitment to current Endeavor pilots on par with what the companies were prepared to give new-hires. What was offered did not satisfy the MEC that such parity would ever exist, and the MEC could not support a program that it believed would be unsuccessful and divisive while failing to address our pilots’ primary concerns. Management has elected to proceed with the EtD program regardless, suggesting that it is in the best interest of all involved.

For current pilots, the EtD documents advertise Delta’s intent to exceed the monthly SSP hiring commitment and accelerate interviews. The MEC welcomes additional Delta jobs for Endeavor pilots, but, based on reasonable estimates, the increased hiring for the next several years will likely result in fewer than two additional pilots moving to Delta under the SSP each month. Our primary concern with the SSP, however, continues to be our low interview success rate – highlighted by the rejection of a significant number of candidates whose professional records are beyond reproach. Without an improved success rate in the SSP interview, accelerated interviews could simply lead to more “No’s” for more of our pilots, clearing the way for faster progress to Delta through the EtD program – making Endeavor and the EtD more attractive to new-hires at the expense of our current pilots. While the EtD serves the current business interests of Delta and Endeavor, it is arguable that SSP hiring no longer does, and turning us down at Delta as quickly as possible may improve staffing and hiring at our company. The conflict of interests being set up between current pilots and prospective applicants is alarming.

It’s also worth noting that this “commitment,” to both exceed the SSP and continue the EtD, can be canceled by Delta or Endeavor at any time and comes with no guarantees, such as a fleet plan, that would ensure a future for this airline beyond the Bridge Agreement’s eighty-one aircraft. What the EtD actually amounts to is a half measure with an escape clause. Delta will test the waters with this program, and, if it doesn’t solve Endeavor’s problems, Delta can choose either to enrich the offer again or to pull the plug. It is that type of uncertainty that has kept pilots away from Endeavor since our emergence from bankruptcy and may continue to do so. How would an EtD pilot’s projected five-year path to Delta be impacted if the EtD were unsuccessful in attracting the hundreds of pilots annually that will be necessary to sustain this airline and instead Endeavor actually continued to shrink?

Further, with regard to the hundreds of new-hires needed to backfill attrition and allow for growth, how does Endeavor Air expect to attract, interview, select, hire, and train a sufficient number of pilots who all meet Delta’s hiring standard? The answer is in the phrase “allowing for differences in experience,” which can be found anywhere the Delta standard is mentioned in EtD documents. Effectively, the bar will be lowered for new-hires, while SSP applicants receive no such consideration for their experience, performance, or faithful service to the brand. Delta and Endeavor believe that they can learn something about a stranger in a two-day interview process that none of us can demonstrate without interviewing, despite our many years as loyal employees and safe pilots. We will monitor closely whether Endeavor’s overall new-hire acceptance rate exceeds the success rate of SSP applicants. Clearly, if similar standards are used, it should not.

By stating “the traits that Delta highly values – job knowledge levels, cognitive abilities, critical thinking skills and leadership – will not be compromised in the EtD,” and “Delta also will benefit from the future employment of pilots who have been selected and trained to our high standards, have demonstrated performance and experience at Endeavor, and have a clear understanding of the Delta brand,” Delta implies that it does not currently benefit from those qualities among our pilots and that hiring us without interview might compromise those values. The MEC asserts, however, that each of our pilots has established proficiency, professionalism, and dedication to the Delta brand many times over in the years that we have all worked here, and Delta has full access to our employment records to validate that history. It is wrong that new-hires should get what Delta itself calls a “‘ticket’ to Delta” while we continue to be offered a coin toss.

In bankruptcy, we were called upon to sacrifice our pay, retirement, and benefits to save this airline and the jobs of all its employees, and we did what was necessary. For the past year and a half, we’ve been asked to deliver strong operational performance despite the turmoil of the reorganization and realignment of our company, and we have. Now we’re being asked to accept that new-hire pilots, who gave nothing to rescue this company from financial ruin and who have not played a part in its revitalization, are more valuable and reliable to the airline and the brand than we are. We do not agree; this is a betrayal of our trust and discounts our role in setting Endeavor on the road to success.

By disregarding our issues and focusing solely on their own needs, management and ownership have hurt our chances to develop a healthy corporate culture, either of our own or in Delta’s image. Our low success rate in SSP interviews coupled with the presence of EtD pilots in our midst will spark discord and conflict at a time when pilot morale is already critically low. Although touted to provide “career stability” and “job security for all Endeavor employees,” this program threatens to disenfranchise our current pilots while setting up new-hires as outcasts. Our problem would not be with the new pilots themselves but rather with the biased treatment they would receive from Delta. Those new-hire pilots, apart from their commitment from Delta and above-average first year pay, would have only New York basing, below-average wages, and an uncertain fleet plan to face for at least the next five years – just like the rest of us. In that light, it’s hard to envision EtD being a good deal for anyone. Likewise, management has seen fit to offer an SSP-style interview to recently-hired pilots, and, while our problem is not with our newest brethren, by conferring our hard-won benefit in a manner not contemplated in the Bridge Agreement, management has cheapened our reward and again marginalized our sacrifice.

The EtD program has been carefully constructed to avoid conflict with our JCBA; as a result, ALPA’s legal experts advise us that we cannot oppose it through the grievance process. However, the MEC implores Delta and Endeavor management to address the broader issues, the concerns of current Endeavor pilots, before irreparable harm is done. To ensure our message is heard by management, the traveling public, and prospective pilot applicants, the MEC is planning an informational campaign. First, to address the apprehensions of many pilots who wish to express themselves to management but who fear retribution, the MEC will establish a program to compile, anonymize, and convey to management the stories of our pilots – think of it like ASAP for pilot personal concerns. Next, faced with the prospect that more than half of us may never be offered the opportunity to progress to Delta, the MEC plans to follow up its successful interview prep series with additional seminars and information to ensure that our pilots can make wise career decisions, armed with the necessary skills and tools for whatever the right next step may be. Additionally, we are contemplating a range of options from media outlets and informational picketing designed to reach our target audience, to an online and physical presence at job fairs to publicize to prospective applicants the realities of life as an Endeavor Air pilot. Your representatives welcome your feedback as to which types of events you would most like to see and support.

The MEC’s goal is to secure a comprehensive package that addresses the needs of the company, its pilots, and prospective new-hires – a program that truly promises us all a future. This is the only solution that fairly recognizes our contributions and the only path that can achieve the buy-in and support of the MEC and this pilot group. Our pilots will know when it is time to tell our friends and associates throughout the industry that something positive is happening here, and that will truly signal the beginning of the end of Endeavor Air’s troubles. Unfortunately, based on the company’s current approach, things may get worse before they get better. In the meantime, we encourage each pilot to participate in our informational events as they are announced. If we can demonstrate our solidarity, we are confident we will succeed.

In Unity,

The Endeavor Air MEC
Air Line Pilots Association, International