(Bloomberg) -- American Airlines Group Inc. flight attendants approved a contract that will immediately raise wages as much as 20% and increase pay and benefits by $4.2 billion over the deal’s five-year term.
The contract was accepted by 87% of those casting ballots, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants said in a statement Thursday. The agreement was reached in July, after US labor mediators pressed both the airline and union to finalize an agreement after lengthy negotiations, averting the threat of a possible strike during the busy summer travel season.
The approval adds to a string of new contracts with double-digit pay increases and improved benefits adopted across the US airline industry over the past year. The round of expensive agreements — the first negotiated since the pandemic — has added to cost pressures facing airlines, which are also contending with delays in new aircraft deliveries, inflation and parts shortages. Labor and fuel are the largest expenses for carriers.
“This contract marks a significant milestone for our flight attendants,” said Julie Hedrick, union president.
The American contract will increase wages between 18% and 20.5%, effective on Oct. 1, followed by annual raises of as much as 3.5%. Over the five years, pay scales will rise 33% to 36%, the union said. It also includes a one-time bonus based on a percentage of wages for years when negotiations were held and workers didn’t get pay raises, a boarding pay premium, per diem increases and profit-sharing gains.
American’s flight attendants haven’t received a raise since 2019, when contract talks began, and first-year workers make $27,000 a year before taxes, the union has said.
Southwest Airlines Co. flight attendants approved a new $6.3 billion labor contract on April 24, two days after Delta Air Lines Inc. boosted pay 5% for non-union employees with the job, setting compensation levels that APFA sought to at least match. Alaska Air Group Inc. flight attendants last month rejected a proposal that would have increased pay an average 32% over its three-year term and shortened the time needed to reach the top wage scale. United Airlines Holdings Inc. flight attendants remain in talks with that carrier.
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