Unionized Hawaiian Airlines pilots have ratified a tentative contract agreement, the Air Line Pilots Association announced today.

Ninety percent of the HAL pilots eligible to vote cast ballots, with 83 percent of the group voting in favor of the agreement .
The 68-month agreement will give pilots pay increases of between four and six percent immediately, and total increases of between 15 and 22 percent over the term of the contract.
The contract “rewards our pilots for their repeated sacrifices over the years on behalf of Hawaiian, and positions our company for future success well into this new decade,” said Capt. Eric Sampson, chairman of ALPA’s Hawaiian Airlines Master Executive Council.
The agreement also increases the company contribution to the pilots’ retirement plans, provides airline management more flexibility in pilot training and scheduling, and allows Hawaiian to acquire or code share with a turboprop feeder airline, provided the feeder carrier does not compete with HAL’s existing inter-island turbojet operation.
ALPA’s previous contract with Hawaiian was ratified in 2005 to help the airline emerge from bankruptcy. It became amendable on June 30, 2007 and the pilots have been in negotiations for almost three years.
“The substantial gains in this contract confirm the favorable patterns for pay, benefits and work rules that are long overdue for pilots,” said ALPA President Capt. John Prater.