A Southwest Airlines jet leaves Dallas Love Field in this July photo. (Terry Maxon/DMN)

Southwest Airlines and the union representing about 6,000 customer service agents and customer support and services representatives said Wednesday that their negotiators have reached a tentative agreement.

The deal, which must be approved by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers-represented employees, is the first labor deal reached by the Dallas-based airline out of a number of seven contracts currently in negotiations.

“After more than two years of negotiations, with many distractions and ups and downs, your negotiating committee has reached a tentative agreement with the Company,” IAM District Lodge 142 president and general chairman David Supplee said in a message to members. “Without your solidarity and support, this would not have been possible.”

“I applaud the efforts of both parties in reaching a tentative agreement that incorporates rewards and incentives for our hard-working customer service agents and customer representatives, while remaining mindful of Southwest’s low cost structure and longterm success,” Southwest chief operating officer Mike Van de Ven said.

“Reaching mutually beneficial contracts for Southwest and our People remain a top priority for us, and I’m hopeful that this tentative agreement is the first of several to come in the near future,” said Van de Ven, an executive vice president.

The four-year contract, which will go before the membership for a vote, includes pay raises and a “me-too” clause.

“The IAM is leading the contract settlements at Southwest Airlines,” the union said in a fact sheet outlining details of the proposed contract. “We demanded and received written assurances (‘me too’) that if the company later provided larger percentage wage rate increases, larger percentage company 401k contributions and retroactive pay for another workgroup in ground ops, our members would receive the same value on top of all the other provisions of our contract..”

The current contract became amendable in October 2012.

Among the details

– Pay rates would go up 1.5 percent each year from 2014 through 2017 and a 2 percent raise in 2018. That would leave pay rates up about 8¼ percent after the last pay raise.

– Employees who are at the top of the pay scale or reach it during the contract will get pay raises (1.5 percent in 2014 and 2016 and 2 percent in 2018) and 1.5 percent cash bonuses in 2015 and 2017.

– Signing bonuses of $1,200 to $1.740 for full-time employees, depending on years of service, and $600 to $870 for part-time employees.

– A profitability bonus of 0.5 percent if the company reaches or exceeds its goal of a 15 percent return on invested capital.

– A $1,000 bonus for perfect attendance or $500 for four or fewer days missed.

Other Southwest labor groups in negotiations include pilots (Southwest Airlines Pilots’ Association); flight attendants (Transport Workers Union Local 556); ramp, operations and provisioning employees and freight agents (TWU Local 555); materials specialist (International Brotherhood of Teamsters); mechanics (Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association); and facilities maintenance technicians (AMFA).

Keep reading for details of the proposal from IAM 142.  Continue reading →

FedEx projects a busy holiday shipping season for workers like these employees, shown last summer at a Nashville FedEx facility. (Mark Humphrey/Associated Press)

FedEx said Wednesday it expects the number of shipments to increase by about 8.8 percent this year between Black Friday (Nov. 28) and Christmas Eve – a total of more than 290 million shipments.

It projects that Monday, Dec. 15, will be the busiest day with 22.6 million shipments expected. In fact, the Mondays of Dec. 1, Dec. 8 and Dec. 15 are all expected to exceed 20 million shipments.

Why does FedEx project that the middle Monday in December will be the busiest day? Consider the busiest single day for shipments over the previous seven years:

Monday, Dec. 17, 2007                          11.5 million
Monday, Dec. 15, 2008                          12.0 million
Monday, Dec. 14, 2009                          14.2 million
Monday, Dec. 13, 2010                          15.6 million
Monday, Dec. 12, 2011                          17.2 million
Monday, Dec. 17, 2012                          19.9 million
Monday, Dec. 16, 2013                          22.0 million

Ameriflight LLC, a recent relocation to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, said Tuesday it has signed a deal to acquire Wiggins Airways Inc., a regional air cargo carrier based in Manchester, N.H.

“The acquisition of Wiggins adds 48 aircraft and 100 employees to Ameriflight’s existing network of 170 aircraft and 550 employees,” Amerflight said in its announcement. “By joining up with Wiggins, Ameriflight becomes the largest regional air cargo carrier in the world with over 650 aviation professionals and 218 aircraft.”

As part of the deal, Ameriflight intends to sell Wiggins’ line operations business, including its fixed-based operations and airline services at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport, to Signature Flight Support.

However, Ameriflight will keep Wiggins’ flight operations, aircraft maintenance and administrative support services in Manchester.

“We are proud to welcome Wiggins Airways into the Ameriflight family,” Ameriflight owner and chairman Jim Martell said in Ameriflight’s announcement.

Jim Martell (Ameriflight)

“The Wiggins team shares our commitment to safety, reliability, and efficiency. This acquisition is truly a win-win for both companies as well as our employees, customers, and the communities we serve by adding new bases and routes to our northeastern U.S. network,” Martell said.

Wiggings president and CEO James H. Thomforde Sr. called Ameriflight “an outstanding partner for Wiggins. “Merging with Ameriflight provides growth and security for our employees.”

He said that all Wiggins employees will be offered jobs with Ameriflight or Signature.

Ameriflight, founded in 1968, says it “provides feeder services for overnight express carriers nationwide and internationally including UPS, FedEx, and DHL. Ameriflight also serves major freight forwarders, financial institutions, laboratories, and overnight couriers,” the company said.

The company’s headquarters are located on the west side of Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, at 1515 W. 20th St. It relocated its headquarters recently from Burbank, Calif.

American Airlines Group said Monday it has combined the cargo divisions of American Airlines and US Airways under a single air waybill, making that area the first operational unit to be combined following the US Airways-American merger of December 2013.

“Today is the culmination of a lot of hard work by our cargo employees,” American Airlines Cargo president Jim Butler said.  ”We have brought together the expertise and solutions that customers have come to rely on and the teams that are focused on restoring American Airlines as the greatest airline in the world. As of today, all booking channels are open and cargo customers have access to flights across the combined network of the world’s largest airline.”

AAG said it “successfully combined 154 facilities and harmonized products” to create a single cargo operation, which has more than $800 million in annual revenue.

In 2015, American hopes to get a single operating certificate for both AA and US Airways in the spring, combine the two carriers’ frequent-flier programs in the middle third of the year and put both airlines under a single reservations system in the latter part of 2015.

A fare increase implemented by Delta Air Lines Thursday has stuck after Southwest Airlines joined other carriers Friday in bumping fares up.

“On late Thursday night, Delta Airlines initiated a new airfare hike,” FareCompare.com said. “The hike – up to $10 round-trip – is considered to be broad-based (covering the bulk of the airline’s route system). Southwest Airlines matched aggressively Friday afternoon. Both United Airlines and American Airlines matched Friday evening making it a very quick success.”

FareCompare said the latest fare hike came after nine unsuccessful attempts over the past six months.

“What this tells us is: 1. Ebola fears do not appear to be hurting demand for flights and the news about the end of the quarantine period for dozens of Texans with no new infections may continue to calm lingering fears. 2. Savings on jet fuel from recent oil price drops are not being passed along to passengers.”

J.P Morgan airline analyst Jamie Baker also took note that the increase came despite dropping prices for oil and jet fuel.

“This represents the industry’s first successful system-wide domestic fare increase since April, and comes in spite of fuel’s recent, precipitous decline,” Baker wrote in a Monday note. “Evidence of domestic fare traction can hopefully allay investor concerns that lower fuel prices will simply be handed over to passengers in the form of lower fares.”

Gulf Coast spot prices for jet fuel were $2.42 a gallon Tuesday, Oct. 14, the last day for which the Energy Information Administration has prices posted. The spot price was $2.91 a year earlier. As recently as Sept. 8, the spot price was at $2.80.

Airline shares were up nicely higher Monday. As of about 2:10 p.m. CDT, American Airlines Group was up $1.69, or 5.1 percent to $35,07; Delta climbed $1.65, or 4.8 percent, to $36.04; United Continental jumped $2.75, or 6.2 percent , to $47.43; and Southwest Airlines was up $1.70, or 5.5 percent , to $32.75.

In an unrelated but related note, Expedia said Monday that holiday travel will be more expensive in 2014 than in 2013.

“Domestic Thanksgiving flight fares are up 17 percent percent , averaging $467 this year versus $400 in 2013,” Expedia said. “Christmas flights are also more expensive than the year prior, but the fare rise is more modest. Flights over Christmas averaged $482 in 2013 and are averaging $493 in 2014, a 2 percent hike.”

An Airbus A330 operated by Lufthansa from Frankfurt, Germany, arrives at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in this July 2014 photo. (Terry Maxon/DMN)

Lufthansa has cancelled its flight from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to Frankfurt, Germany, on Monday afternoon, as well as the return flight Tuesday from Frankfurt to DFW.

The union for Lufthansa pilots, Vereinigung Cockpit, had announced strikes to affect much of its short-haul and medium-haul service. But on Monday, it expanded the latest job action to most of Lufthansa’s intercontinental flights like the Frankfurt-DFW route.

Lufthansa will allow passengers affected by the strike to rebook on alternative flights without any charge.

In a statement, the union said it has been unable to get a new collective agreement for cockpit crews, and said it “regrets the inconvenience to passengers” and called on Lufthansa to come to an agreement.

A key part of the dispute is over the issue of early retirement and Lufthansa’s efforts to delay eligibility for early retirement.

Simone Menne, Lufthansa’s chief officer of finances and aviation services, said the strikes “not only cause severe economic damage to Lufthansa, but they also harm its reputation, with considerable consequences for our company and employees that remain unforeseeable even today.”

“Why the Vereinigung Cockpit pilots’ union is blocking a solution to the collective bargaining conflict without compromise, is no longer comprehensible. This is despite the fact that all the other groups of employees have made a constructive contribution to Lufthansa’s success in the future. Our investors expect sustainable and competitive structures across all areas. This also applies to retirement and transitional benefits,” Menne said in Lufthansa’s statement.

Frontier's frequent-fliers received this in their email Friday.

Frontier Airlines, which had the misfortune of carrying a Dallas nurse with Ebola, might be hurting for reservations.

It sent out emails to customers Friday offering them a 20 percent discount on tickets booked Friday. The discount is good for travel from Oct. 23 through Dec. 18, with Nov. 21-26 and Nov. 29-Dec. 1 blacked out. You have to use the discount code TWENTY.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put out a notice Thursday reaching out to passengers on Frontier Flight 1142 on Friday, Oct. 10, from Dallas/Fort Worth to Cleveland. It previously began attempts to contact passengers on Frontier Flight 1143 on Monday, Oct. 13.

Those were the flights taken by Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas nurse Amber Joy Vinson, who boarded the Monday flight with a fever. Vinson is now in Emory University Hospital in Atlanta where she was transferred on Wednesday.

Frontier said Thursday it is also reaching out to passengers on five flights Tuesday that used the same airplane that Vinson flew on Monday. That airplane flew DFW-Cleveland, Cleveland-Hollywood, Fla.; Hollywood-Cleveland, Cleveland-Atlanta, and Atlanta-Cleveland.