And so begins the airline industry going the way of the maritime industry.

Thanks Obama.

It will be interesting to see if the big 3 will just dump seats into any market NAI flies.

I haven't flown in a month so I've been out of touch with this stuff. Has there been a new development?

NAI granted license for Ireland to U.S. flight.

Well great. Obama is such an asshole. He's completely committed to helping every other country's economy over our own.

Does this fall under a traditional 5th freedom flight?

If so, if the airlines were smart they'd fifth freedom the fuck out of Norweigan routes.

Southwest already working to set up a codeshare.  

SWAPA speaks for me and we'll never approve that nonsense.

That is exactly what has happened here. This current administration is infuriated that pilot contracts are so "rich", just like doctors who make six figures, the leftist cannot stand that anyone works hard and creates value outside of the government "lane". They have tossed ALPA and all the other unions under the bus on this one over ideological purity. Ever wonder why most pilot vote Republican, instead of who their union endorses? Now you know.

As an update, ALPA, SWAPA, etc. are pushing hard for the new administration to reverse this. We have until the 29th.

For those of you not familiar with the matter, somebody here posted this a while back: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ju3X4UOVtqw

To be truthful, Obama had no legal ground to deny NAI their certificate and he seemingly delayed it as long as he possibly could.  

Trump on the other hand has bought into NAI hook, line and sinker.  For a guy that touts "America first" he sure did shoot the US aviation industry in the back.  But hey, Boeing will make money and his administration will be able to tout more US manufacturing jobs.  Jobs that will be gone in a decade anyway as automation and AI revolutionize production lines.  Meanwhile tens of thousands of good-paying middle class pilot, mechanic, flight attendant, and other airline personnel will bare the burden.  

I voted for Trump.  But make no mistake, this guy will be bad news bears for the US airline industry.

Still better than what I'd expect Hillary to be doing.

Our country should not allow subsidized foreign businesses to compete with American businesses without taxing them to keep things competitive. Whether it's a middle-eastern airline, NAI, Sumsung, et cetera; we can't allow goods and services to be dumped on us to where our domestic capability goes under and we can be held hostage or to the standards of foreign entities.

Lots of Delta, United and American Airlines pilots benefited from regulatory arbitrage in 1978 and did so at the cost of other U.S. pilots. But as the frog would say, "that's none of my business."

How many of those guys are flying today?

Or how many of the other guys ended up furloughed or with highly truncated career progression? Same/same.

Or are we doing ALPA National math that says "who pays the most dues?"

Im all about stopping Cabotage as the next guy, but let's not pretend that EVERY pilot THAT'S a native American, Delta or United guy isn't DIRECT beneficiary of their MECs actions, and those actions were done at direct expense of other U.S. pilot groups because those MECs took advantage of regulatory arbitrage.

So what do you propose be done? Is it enough that those pilots that benefitted openly admit that they're privileged or should we consider making them pay reparations?
Non-union pilots lives matter.

False equivalency, ahoy!

This is what happens when mainline pilot groups run out others to underbus to save their positions.

Honestly, I'm not tracking what you think ought to be done about this predicament. I thought you were just bringing up history for the sake of interesting conversation. You brought up Regulatory Arbitrage from 1978. I was about to turn 3 years old when that happened. Hell, I'm pretty sure you've been in this industry longer than I have. The most senior Capt at my air line was a brand new pilot on property when that went down. If you want to hold a few guys like him responsible for what happened 40 years ago then that's fine but it won't change anything. Is your desire now merely to observe that 40 years ago a bunch of pilots put their own interests above those of a bunch of other pilots? I'm not sure I'm tracking where you're going with this.

Oh no. The pilots on those properties now are the direct beneficiaries of the actions of their MECs in the 1970s to present. The idea that they are innocent in this is laughable. That said, I'm not noble. I have an active Delta, Southwest, American, Alaska, Jetblue and United application. Its the sad fact of the industry we're in, which is sadder than needs to because local pilot groups have consistently made the decision that fucking their buddies is easier and more profitable than improving the profession. From a dispassionate analysis, it was a good tactic. Turns out, it was a lousy strategy.

Now, all of sudden, ALPA is discovering that the industry is bigger their component MECs parochial concerns, that for 30 years have tried to protect their careers by taking any other pilot group, both regional and mainline, and stuffing them under the bus. Stuff like NAI has been an existential threat to our profession for decades. ALPA was more worried about getting the APA back into ALPA. The ideas of national seniority lists, pilot focused hiring practices, etc. that would do a bunch to improve our negotiating position as a profession were rejected out of hand, or more likely traded away for a nicer crew meal or something tangible and stupid.

If ALPA can't get a guy like me, who drank the ALPA national kool-aid from birth, whose career has been, shall we say, less than benefited because of his belief in the value of organized labor, to even click a form letter or watch a four minute Youtube video, what does that say to you?