Frontier Airlines Pilots Ask Feds for OK to Pursue a Strike
Skift Take
U.S. airline strikes are extremely rare because of government regulations designed to prevent them. For that reason, there's no guarantee Frontier's pilots will receive the permission they seek. But remember the last major U.S. pilot strike? It was in 2010, at Spirit Airlines, when it was controlled by Indigo Partners. The same private equity firm now owns Frontier.
Union pilots at Frontier Airlines have asked federal authorities to take steps to release them from negotiations on a new contract, a request that, if granted, could lead to the first major U.S. airline strike in eight years.
In a letter dated Friday, the Air Line Pilots Association told the National Mediation Board, which governs airline industry labor relations, that the two sides were at an impasse, with little hope of reaching an agreement during ongoing mediation sessions. The pilot union accused airline management of "an approach that is inconsistent with good-faith bargaining."
Strikes are rare at U.S. airlines because federal regulations make them difficult. Though Frontier's pil
