By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

Bahamasair officials yesterday said they expect their operations to return to normal today (Wednesday), with the pilot’s union expressing its willingness to complete industrial agreement talks.

Henry Woods, Bahamasair’s general manager, told Tribune Business: “Things are not back to normal yet, but we will be back to normal late this evening or tomorrow morning.

“Domestically, we are doing very good. We have got sub-service throughout, and we have sub-service from Florida. We are operating one of our airplanes now, a jet, with management pilots, and we have sub-services from two other carriers supporting us, so by late this evening we should be back to normal. We are doing reasonably well.”

Mr Woods added: “We have got  backlog here, and we have a backlog at each of the there Florida cities, Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, but we hope to clear up the backlog this evening (Tuesday) after about 8 pm or 9 pm.”

Hundreds of Bahamasair passengers were left grounded due to the protest by Bahamasair pilots, which began on Monday afternoon over salary negotiations with the Government.

Bahamasair called the Bahamas Airline Pilots  Association’s (B-ALPA) actions “unreasonable and unwarranted”. It added thatits  pilots are the highest paid in the region, and called the current salary proposal submitted to the union “reasonable”, placing wages much further ahead what was paid to other regional carriers, particularly state-owned airlines.

The union,  in a statement yesterday, said it had agreed in good faith to give up two increments added to salaries within the new five-year agreement. These increments will be incorporated in the last three years of the agreement, maintaining the pilot compensation package as negotiated in 2005. 

“In looking at our decade-old compensation package (2005-2014), the pilot body has given up increments for years 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. The pilots are seeking nothing more than what we are currently contracted for, only to maintain what we presently have,” B-ALPA said.

“The pilots of the Bahamas Airline Pilots’ Association (B-ALPA) make no excuses for what we are paid. We are the last line of defense to guard against any mechanical failure and/or mishap in a business that, by its design, is moving thousands of pounds of metal into the sky and back to earth safely, involving risk and inherent danger.”

The union added: “Bahamasair and the shareholder can, and do, brag about the safety record of the national airline, one with the best accident record in aviation to date, which is based on, ultimately, the role the pilots play in the operation of the aircraft.

“Regionally, LIAT, whose pilot group is currently undergoing negotiations themselves for a new collective labour agreement (CLA), is often used by Bahamasair’s management as a comparison for turboprop pay. 

“We do not deem that a fair comparison to make solely based upon the size of the Bahamian economy versus that of the eastern Caribbean. We feel it is not an ‘apples to apples’ comparison. 

“Also, our closest regional neighbour, whose government is the shareholder of their own national airline, the Cayman Islands, offer their pilots greater levels of compensation than what we receive at Bahamasair, on a per seat basis for the turboprop and jet fleets.”

The union also took issue with management’s statements relative to labour costs and revenue percentages at Bahamasair.

The airline said on Monday that  in spite of steps taken to make it more viable, “it has struggled in the face of unsustainable labour costs, which account for 44.6 per cent of the airline’s total revenue.”

The union said yesterday, however: “The labour cost versus revenue percentage is a number that is affected by both variables. Therefore, what responsibility is the shareholder and Board of Directors placing on the managing director to reduce the percentages referenced by increasing revenue and finding new revenue streams, all of which was asked for by this body publicly, when this body asked the managing director to produce a business plan for the beleaguered airline.

“To date, no such plan has been produced.  The only option tabled is to take from the employees.  That position, without holding management accountable for the troubled state of the airline, is totally unacceptable to the pilots.”