Gregory Polek has spent his entire career in aviation journalism with AIN, starting as a proofreader and assistant to then-managing editor Mary Mahoney in 1995 after serving an internship with&nbsp;New Jersey Monthly&nbsp;magazine and completing his B.A. degree in English/Writing at New Jersey’s William Paterson College. By 1997 Polek accepted a position as an associate editor, covering the regional airline beat for&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;in place of retiring industry veteran Don Anderson. The assignment took Polek across North America and Europe to profile regional airlines varying in size and mission from the likes of floatplane operators Kenmore Air and Chalk’s Ocean Airways to regional jet operators such as SkyWest and American Eagle. Today, in his dual role as Air Transport Editor and International Airshow Editor, Polek writes, edits, and manages AIN’s commercial aviation content while overseeing each of the company’s daily international air show publications in Paris, Farnborough, Singapore, and Dubai. Most recently Polek has assumed oversight of daily coverage of the Helicopter Association International’s annual Heli-Expo convention.

Senior Editor

Gregory Polek

United Airlines pilots on Monday voted to accept a deal with management to avert an immediate furlough of 2,850 aviators even as a $25 billion aid package given to U.S. airlines as Covid-19 relief nears its September 30 expiration date. The letter of agreement (LOA) prevents the furlough of any of United’s 13,000 pilots until June 2021. The deal also offers a second round of early separation options for all pilots 50 years of age or older with 10 years of experience and reduces or ends the effect of temporary work reductions based on a recovery in passenger demand or other market factors.

 


United had planned to furlough the first 1,747 of the 2,850 pilots on October 1, the next 572 on October 30, and another 531 on November 30. The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) negotiated a tentative agreement to avert the furloughs on September 9.

 


Under the deal, pilots will fly fewer hours and get paid less in return for the promise for no furloughs, while they remain in their existing aircraft type and retain their existing ranks, according to Bloomberg.&nbsp;

 


“Our members understood that in order to protect pilot jobs, we needed to approve this agreement,” said United’s ALPA unit chairman Todd Insler. “We’re spreading the existing flying among our pilot group while locking in permanent contractual gains. I am proud of our pilots for showing the unity and resolve needed in the face of uncertainty.”

 


The vote comes two days before the scheduled expiration of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES)&nbsp;Act&nbsp;and with it the legislation’s Payroll Support Program (PSP), which included involuntary layoff protections for employees of any airline that accepted part of a $25 billion grant package. The CARES Act also prevented airlines’ abandonment of service to communities served before they applied for their portions of the grant. Although virtually all of the U.S. major airlines have pared&nbsp;service to small and medium-sized cities, United hasn’t said which, if any, it would completely cut in the event Congress does not extend the CARES Act.

News about commercial airlines, including regulations, aircraft orders, safety, acquisitions, and mergers.

United Airlines Pilots Avert Furloughs 

A letter of agreement between United Airlines and the Air Line Pilots Association prevents any involuntary layoffs until June 2021.

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News about environmental issues relating to aircraft operations, including noise issues, emissisions, and regulations. See Fuel for biofuel.

News and issues relating to international air transport and cargo carriers, national airlines and regional airlines, including aircraft, engines, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security and training.

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News and issues relating to the aerospace industry that are related to the science, engineering and business of flight in space involving civil, industrial and military applications, and similar topics related to flight in the atmosphere of the Earth that are not covered more directly by other AINonline subject channels. In other words, both astronautical and aeronautical subjects, except for those aeronautical topics that are specifically covered elsewhere on this website.

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News and developments about everything that goes into the cabin of an aircraft, from floor coverings to headliners, with a special emphasis on in-flight entertainment, communications and other electronics for passengers. If it is in the cabin of an aircraft, it’s covered here.

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