MEDIA RELEASE

Hawaiian Pilots Open Voting on Tentative Contract Agreement

HONOLULU – Voting opened today on a proposed new contract for 436 Hawaiian Airlines pilots, as union leaders said they had accomplished all of their goals of fair pay, retirement security and quality of life for the pilot group.

Online voting for the tentative agreement, which was hammered out with the assistance of the National Mediation Board after a final, grueling two-week negotiation session last month, will continue until January 14, said Capt. Eric Sampson, chairman of the HAL Master Executive Council of the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA).

“When we sat down at the bargaining table in the spring of 2007, we were committed to winning fair but affordable cost-of-living raises, protecting our work rules and stabilizing our members’ retirement plans,” Sampson said. “Thanks to a lot of hard work and the unwavering support of our members, we are now on the verge of completing our three-year journey to an outstanding new contract.”

The five-year, eight-month agreement includes pay raises of up to 20.6 percent over the duration of the contract, plus profit sharing. Company retirement contributions would increase to 19.4 percent per year for pilots whose pensions were frozen and replaced with a defined contribution plan when Hawaiian exited bankruptcy in 2005.

The agreement also allows Hawaiian to acquire or code share with an interisland turboprop feeder carrier, but only if the airline agrees to significant restrictions designed to protect the jobs of HAL’s existing interisland aviators, who fly Boeing 717 jet aircraft.

“This is an industry-leading agreement that will make our members among the best-paid pilots among their peers and give them the major-airline status that is consistent the world-class airline that they helped create,” Sampson said. “The ALPA leadership unanimously endorses the tentative agreement and we encourage every Hawaiian pilot to vote yes.”

More than 150 Hawaiian pilots have already attended road shows in Honolulu where ALPA negotiators briefed them on the details of the agreement. Additional road shows will be held soon in Honolulu and Seattle.

Founded in 1931, ALPA is the world’s largest pilot union, representing more than 53,000 pilots at 37 airlines in the United States and Canada. Visit the ALPA website at www.alpa.org.