Airlines

The board of directors for the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA) has endorsed a tentative agreement union negotiators reached with management on 8 September.

SWAPA says a ratification vote for the tentative agreement, which would expire on 31 August 2011, is planned in October.

Members of SWAPA in June of this year rejected a previous tentative agreement reached by the negotiating parties.

In a statement SWAPA says the new agreement maintains long-standing scheduling progrmmes, supplies an earlier increase in retirement benefits and "further restricts the company's ability to codeshare both domestically and internationally".

The new agreement caps near-international codesharing at 4% of the company's total available seat miles versus a 6% cap included in the rejected agreement.

Southwest explains the tentative agreement rewards SWAPA membership for profitability achieved by the carrier during the last two years, "while making a critical move to tie the next two years' compensation to the company's financial performance".