INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- ATA's pilots and flight mechanics voted to approve a three-year contract that includes a potential 4 percent ownership stake in the airline, which has been flying under bankruptcy protection.
The deal was approved by 59 percent of those voting during 10 days of balloting that ended Wednesday, the Air Line Pilots Association said.
The new contract included $84 million in long-term concessions by about 800 pilots and flight mechanics. Other contract terms included the continuation of previous pay cuts until the end of 2006, when salaries will begin rising to 7 percent less than 2003 rates.
The union said that amounted to a pay cut of as much as 40 percent by flight crew members, who had voted this month to authorize a strike.
''It is incumbent on our management to make good on their promise to run ATA profitably and efficiently,'' said Jim Anderson, chairman of the union's ATA executive council. ''We have sacrificed more than any other employee group, more than any manager, investor, or creditor, and as such have the most invested in ATA's future success.''
Executives of Indianapolis-based ATA said the pilot contract would help the company in its efforts to arrange $100 million in capital for its restructuring.
The pilots are to receive stock options for 4 percent ownership of the company once it emerges from bankruptcy.
ATA, a unit of ATA Holdings Corp., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October 2004. It has cut about 3,100 jobs since it began reducing from a work force of 7,800 people two years ago.
Industry experts had said a pilot walkout would quickly lead to the demise of the 32-year-old carrier.
ATA, once the nation's 10th-largest carrier, flies to 28 cities in the U.S., Aruba and Mexico. It operates a hub at Chicago's Midway Airport and is the largest North American operator of commercial and military charters.
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