"Delta and United pilots get a certain level of compensation for every calendar day away from home, regardless if they've flown on that day," Tajer explained Friday, stressing that American Airlines pilots "get paid based on flight hours" alone and do not receive any compensation for days when they do not fly.
According to Tajer, compensating pilots for downtime would significantly contribute to life quality improvement for AA pilots and would push the company to optimize operations in order to avoid inefficient scheduling.
The AA management chose to enhance rates only, making them 7 percent higher than those of Delta.
"I don't know if it's a religious issue for them [management], but they just do not want to share profits with the employees," Tajer told Sputnik.
The spokesman emphasized, however, that APA would rather continue dialogue rather than trigger arbitration proceedings.
"American [Airlines] has stated in a letter to our pilots that they view negotiations as concluded, that it will not continue going forward and they've already proffered for arbitration," Tajer said, adding that "if it's a 'no' option, we [AAP] continue to believe that a negotiated settlement is in the best interests of both parties".
Arbitration hearings are scheduled for February 24 – 26 should an agreement between APA and American Airlines not be reached.
According to APA, Wall Street analysts expect American Airlines to achieve earnings of over $6 billion in 2015.
