And from the West:


MEC Hotline – February 10, 2006
From: JR Baker, MEC Chairman
To: All AWA Pilots

Topics:

1. EMB-190 Order Announced
2. Grievance Committee Selects Arbitrators
3. JNC Website
4. Get Involved

1. EMB-190 Order Announced
Late yesterday, management issued a press release announcing a firm order for 57
Embraer 190 jet aircraft with options for 50 additional aircraft in the
EMB-170/190 family of E-Jets. That supplements the original order of 25 with 32
additional aircraft. Clearly this is big news for our pilots. Prior to the
Transition Agreement, these aircraft would have gone to our regional affiliates.
However, last summer, the AWA and AAA MECs were able to bring that flying
in-house.

We knew then that flying those airplanes with our crews would not only enhance
the experience for our customers but also create career advancement
opportunities for our pilots. Management agreed.

Since the Transition Agreement was signed, I know many of you have expressed
frustration to me that we haven’t heard anything else about the Embraer 190s.
Some pilots, I think, had started to believe the E-Jets were never coming, that
management had dangled a carrot in front of our noses to get us to sign the
Transition Agreement.

The MEC has known for some time, however, that management has been negotiating
with Embraer over price for the new jets. Signing an order for new aircraft is
an expensive proposition, and if there’s anything we know for sure about our
management team it’s that they’re careful with how they spend their money.

Now that the order has been announced, we expect to see the first two aircraft
arrive in November of this year, with one additional aircraft arriving
approximately every month until the order is complete.

Where are they going to go? We don’t have a definitive answer yet, but it’s
clear to me from our conversations with management that there’s a ready market
for the jet out here in the West. The Transition Agreement provides for us to
sit down not just with management, but also with the Airways MEC to figure out
how best to distribute new aircraft acquisitions. I will keep you posted as the
plans continue to unfold.

2. Grievance Committee Selects Arbitrators
The Grievance Committee, along with our Contract Administrator, sat down with
management on Thursday to select arbitrators for the cases unresolved at last
week’s Grievance Review Board. Arbitrators Michael Beck and Richard Kasher have
been selected to hear those cases. Additionally, the Grievance Committee has
proposed resolving five more cases through the Mediation/Arbitration process. If
management declines to proceed with these cases in this manner, the Grievance
Committee will again strike for arbitrators in these cases. Mitch Vasin, our
Grievance Committee Chairman is preparing a detailed review of last week’s
Grievance Review Board for distribution to our pilots.

3. JNC Website
Today, the Joint Negotiating Committee unveiled a new webpage accessible to both
east and west pilots. This page has the latest news from the JNC, including
updates on discussions, agreements reached, and pilot agreements from both
America West and US Airways. The site will also have an online Q&A section,
which should be live within the next few weeks, where you will be able to send a
question to the JNC, and if relevant, they will answer it and post it to the
website. You can access the page from the AWA MEC website; log on to the
homepage, then click the link on the right-hand side under “JNC News”. This
joint section will be an invaluable tool as we continue to move forward with
joint negotiations, so be sure to check it often.

4. Get Involved
Quick: name 10 things that you did this week. Did any of them have to do with
helping our union move forward? Over the past several months, we have faced many
challenges, yet our union has continued to succeed because of pilots like you
who have volunteered their time. Many of our committees desperately need help,
and I’m asking you to get involved. Whether you can spare 10 minutes a day or a
few hours, call the office to see how you can help. Each day gets us closer to
crunch time, and we need all hands on deck to succeed.

Be careful out there.

JR