ABSTRACT
The January 2004 issue of Air Line Pilot Magazine contained one of the most important articles to grace its pages since 1978. In it, three ALPA national committee chairmen explain that pilots see the airline industry much differently than do airline managers. While the pilots still think of themselves as working for individual companies, management sees “the entire airline system as a single network. They view each of the separate companies as a combined whole, able to move … flying opportunities … across a vast global network.” Meanwhile, “pilots … have no ability to shift to either the vagaries of the market or management’s whims [because] … we are trapped in our individual silos” (ALPA 2004: 15). This article may be the foundation for a change that is long overdue.
