The once predominant orange is noticeably absent in the color scheme. The new theme features sharper, primary red, yellow, and blue colors. Its website, phone apps, airplanes are now sporting a more modern, clean look. Yesterday, we were excited to see that Southwest Airlines announced a major brand overhaul. Having senior leadership in there to kind of push it along has really helped.The folks here at Trademarkology are big fans of Southwest Airlines, which is convenient since Nashville is a Southwest 'hub' (I use quotes because they don't really follow the hub model). American, Delta and United’s CEOs have been involved and deals have gotten done, and they’ve gotten through some very difficult issues on their side. “That’s disconcerting, especially considering where we are in this process. “To date, in over three years, we have yet to see anyone but the company’s negotiator and his team in negotiations,” says Murray. He called on leadership to take an active role. In a July 17 message to membership, Murray said a “wasted week of negotiations” had included the take-back of agreements on parental leave that had been set to improve language described as being nearly 40 years out of date. SWAPA-represented pilots in early May authorized potential strike action with a near-unanimous vote, and in late June requested a release from federal mediation, describing an impasse over several items including pay. “More efficient means better quality of life it’s not more time off, it’s just working more efficiently while we are at work,” Murray says. And for Southwest pilots, that means addressing scheduling-including reassignment practices and resulting fatigue-but ultimately boiling down to better efficiency.

Ed Sicher called their TA “woefully deficient by comparison,” and said Isom had “acknowledged that significant improvements must be made.”Ī focus on quality-of-life provisions in addition to pay has been a recurring theme during post-COVID pilot negotiations. “While our pending TA built on some of the gains achieved in the Delta pilots’ agreement, it appears that United CEO Scott Kirby has found ways to address pay and quality-of-life items for his pilots that American CEO Robert Isom and his team have repeatedly told us were simply impossible to do here,” APA said in a July 16 statement. The bargaining landscape, the Allied Pilots Association (APA) says, has once again changed. An AIP announced by United pilots on July 15 would provide cumulative 34.5%-40.2% increases in pay rates over four years along with improvements to quality of work-life provisions, job security, retirement, and benefits-a deal causing American’s pilots to re-examine their own TA. Southwest Airlines in a statement said they feel confident that mediation will “continue driving us even closer to a final agreement” that is beneficial to pilots and the business.ĭeals, tentative agreements (TA), or agreements in principle (AIP) have so far been reached by pilots at Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, and United Airlines. That’s what we’re trying to focus on it is about efficiency and it’s about maintaining our position in the industry as a low-cost leader.” Really what makes-and made-Southwest great, is doing more with less. there has to be a refocusing on efficiency. But none of that is going to solve the process problems of connecting pilots and airplanes. “With the focus on dividends and buybacks over the last decade, there has been a lack of investment in infrastructure and IT, and that does have to be done. “Yes, $1.3 billion does need to be spent,” says Murray. Following that winter disruption, the Dallas-based carrier began implementing a remediation plan and is budgeted to spend more than $1.3 billion on upgrades and maintenance of information technology (IT) systems this year.īut the union representing nearly 10,000 pilots says the problem is more than IT and infrastructure, describing an “operational drift.” “That’s our main sticking point in negotiations-simply trying to drive some efficiencies in how we are being used.”Įmphasizing that focus, SWAPA points to “meltdowns that Southwest has from time to time,” including on Columbus Day 2021 and most recently during the December 2022 holidays. “I feel confident when I say that we’re the only labor union in the world that is not trying to work less and get paid more we’re trying to provide efficiency so that we work smarter,” Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA) President Capt. Ongoing negotiations for pilots at Southwest Airlines center around improving efficiency, its union says.

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