Horizon Air and IBT reach tentative agreement on pilot contract

Horizon Air (Seattle/Tacoma) and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) jointly announced that, with the assistance of federal mediation, they have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract for the airline’s 673 pilots.

The IBT expects to be ready to present the details of the agreement to Horizon’s pilots by late October. The ratification vote would take place immediately following.

Horizon’s pilot contract became amendable in September 2006. After years of negotiations, in January 2010 both Horizon and the IBT requested federal mediation to work through the remaining open items. In June, an agreement in principle was reached, and the negotiation teams spent the subsequent months finalizing the details.

Per federal law, airline contracts don’t expire. An existing contract remains in effect after the amendable date until a new contract is agreed to by the negotiating teams and ratified by represented members.

Copyright Photo: Nick Dean. Certainly one of the most colorful liveries is the “Celebrating 25 Years” introduced on June 20, 2006. Bombardier DHC-8-402 (Q400) N425QX (msn 4039) is pictured on final approach at the SeaTac hub.