Release #: ATI 23.13
October 03, 2023

ATI Pilots Hopeful New ATSG President Will Right the Ship

WASHINGTON—On October 1, the Air Transport Services Group (ATSG) Board of Directors named Chief Strategy Officer Mike Berger president of the company. The pilots of ATSG subsidiary Air Transport International (ATI) have been calling on former president Rich Corrado, who will remain chief executive officer, for months to address the record attrition at Amazon’s largest air carrier.

“We hope this move is a signal that ATSG is getting serious about addressing the record attrition at ATI that, if not addressed, threatens our performance,” said Capt. Mike Sterling, chair of the ATI Master Executive Council, a branch of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA). “We’ve been raising alarm bells for months, and hope Mike Berger is committed to righting the ship with a competitive pilot contract that will stem attrition and return ATI to a career-destination airline.”

More than 56 percent of the ATI pilot group has left since January 2022, and experienced pilots continue to leave ATI every month. ATI and ALPA have been in contract negotiations for more than three years and entered into mediation earlier this year with no meaningful progress by management on big-ticket issues including compensation and retirement. Last week, ATI pilot leadership voted unanimously to give the chair authority to call for a strike-authorization vote, which would permit a strike if the National Mediation Board releases the parties to self-help under the Railway Labor Act.

Founded in 1931, ALPA is the largest airline pilot union in the world and represents more than 75,000 pilots at 43 U.S. and Canadian airlines. Visit ALPA.org or follow us on Twitter @ALPAPilots.

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CONTACT: ALPA Media, 703-481-4440 or Media@alpa.org