The Air Line Pilots Association said Monday that it will fight a lawsuit from ultra-low-cost carrier Sun Country dealing with compensation for its instructor pilots.
ALPA said Sun Country is suing in federal court to void a binding arbitration award that found the airline owes premium pay to the instructor pilots. ALPA has countersued and is seeking to enforce the award.
According to the union’s narrative of events, an independent arbitration board ruled late last year that Sun Country “improperly withheld override pay owed to training pilots.” The board’s decision requires the airline to pay instructor pilots in back pay and continue a contractually required premium moving forward.
ALPA said Sun Country sued in March. The carrier is reportedly arguing that the arbitration body exceeded its jurisdiction when it made the award.
Sun Country and its new parent company, Allegiant Air, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday morning.
ALPA said Sun Country’s legal maneuver is hypocritical because the airline has blamed recent route cuts on a lack of pilots willing to relocate outside Minneapolis, where Sun Country is based, or become a captain.
“Sun Country can’t have it both ways,” Sun Country Master Executive Council Chair Sam Larson said in a statement. “It can’t claim a pilot and captain shortage while simultaneously fighting a multimillion-dollar award compensating the very instructor pilots who stepped up to train new first officers and captains to ease that shortage.”
ALPA did not disclose the total amount of the award.
“Our training pilots continue to assume additional responsibilities to prepare the next generation of Sun Country aviators,” Larson added. “The arbitration board ruled in their favor, recognizing their entitlement to compensation withheld by Sun Country. Rather than honoring the ruling, management has chosen to fight its own instructor pilots in federal court, even as it cites a shortage of pilots as a reason for reducing service from Minneapolis.”
AirlineGeeks reported last month that Sun Country reduced its September passenger schedule by roughly one third due to higher-than-expected crew attrition and additional cargo flying. In an internal memo, the airline said the cuts are temporary, and that pilot hiring will ramp up at Minneapolis/St. Paul.
