Air Transport

American Airlines has reached a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with its pilots' union on a new Aviation Safety Action Programme (ASAP), ATI has learned.

According to an internal memo circulated to members of the Allied Pilots Association (APA), the union and American's safety and flight department brokered the MOU after "a concerted effort to revive the programme began last week".

The MOU provides "both the protections needed by the pilots and the programme fundamentals required by the airline". It has been signed by the APA and American and awaits final US FAA approval.

Further details of the arrangement are expected to be made available via the APA web site shortly.

"We are also pleased that, together, we were able to bring back a critical safety programme that has served our pilots, our airline and our industry so well for so many years. Not only that, but in the process, we improved upon and created a programme that once again sets the standard for our industry," says the APA.

ASAP programmes covering pilots at both Delta Air Lines and US Airways were also previously suspended. Pilots and management of Delta in January agreed to re-launch the voluntary safety reporting scheme. Last week, US Airways and its pilots did the same.