u.s. Department of 

Transportation 

Office of the Secretary 

of Transportation 

Mr. Larry Sibley 

4806 North Foxglove Drive, N.W. 

Gig Harbor, WA 98332 

Dear Mr. Sibley: 

Assistant Secretary 

MAY 2·8 2010 

S 1 0-1 00114-034 

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, 200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 

Washington, DC 20590 

The White House has forwarded your letter addressed to President Obarna, which raised a 

number of important aviation issues, to the U. S. Department of Transportation for 

response. Among other points, you question the strategy of the larger airlines 

outsourcing domestic operations to smaller airlines, which in your opinion is harmful to 

traveler safety and results in lower employee wages. You suggest amending the Railway 

Labor Act to give single-carrier status to all subcontractors doing business under a 

particular franchise, and/or creating a modem-day equivalent of a Civil Aeronautics 

Board to more comprehensively regulate airlines on economic matters. 

As you can appreciate, President Obarna and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood have 

received many thoughtful comments and suggestions on dealing with key issues in 

contemporary aviation, including a number that raised points similar to yours. In 

November 2009, Secretary LaHood held a forum to specifically discuss the future of the 

U.S. aviation industry. He listened to the comments and opinions of the participants, who 

represented various airline management, airports, labor unions, manufacturers, and 

consumer groups. 

Based on the discussion during that forum, the Secretary concluded that there were many 

issues and questions that needed to be addressed more comprehensively than what could 

be accomplished in one day. Accordingly, the Secretary has decided to create a "Future 

of Aviation Advisory Committee," which would be comprised of representatives from 

many sectors of the aviation community. The Advisory Committee will provide 

information, advice and recommendations to the Secretary on ensuring the 

competitiveness of the U.S. aviation industry and its capability to address evolving 

transportation needs, challenges, and opportunities. We expect that in doing so the 

Committee will address the kinds of issues you raised in your letter. 

The first meeting of the Advisory Committee was held on May 25, and at least four 

future meetings are scheduled. Its recommendations are being requested by the end of 

the year. We will take the liberty of adding your letter to the docket we have established 

(DOT-OST-2010-0074), and you are welcome to forward any additional views to the 

Committee via email at (F AAC@D0T.GOV). 
I appreciate your interest in these important matters. 

Sincerely yours, 

-Susan L. Kurland 

Assistant Secretary for 

Aviation and International Affairs 

S 10-100 114-034 
EXECUI1VE OFFICE OF 1HE PRESIDENT 

Office of Presidential Correspondence 

To: U.S. Department of Transportation 

Carol Darr, Director, Executive Secretariat 

1200 NewJerseyAve, SE 

Room W93·403 

Washington, DC 20590 

(202) 366-4277 

Mail Analysis 

Date Sent: 12 \ 14lOCl 

Number of letters enclosed: 1 

SIO-lOOlI4-034 

The enclosed correspondence appears to fall under the jurisdiction of your office. It is requested that you reply on 

behalf of President Barack Obama according to the rules and regulations of your office. 

• Please acknowledge receipt of this packet. 

• Please respond to the constituent within 60 da}S. 

• Please provide a copy of the response to the White House. 

You may contact Jeff Stephens at the White House Office of Presidential Correspondence, Mail Anal}Sis by email 

at po!icyresponse@who.eop.gov, fax at 202·456-9050 or phone at 202·456-7878. 

White House Number 

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08 November 2009 

President Barack H. Obama 

.. - . The White House 

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW 

Washingto~ DC 20500 

Dear Mr. President: 

SIO-IOOlI4-034 

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I am writing to ask you to use your influence to put a stop to a practice that has subjected 

the traveling public to an unacceptable level of risk, caused the death of many innocent 

people, and has cost tens of thousands of middle-class jobs: Outsourcing in the airline 

industry. 

For the last ten years or more, thanks to the laissez-faire economic policies of your 

Republican predecessors, the major airlines have been outsourcing much of their 

domestic flying to smaller subcontractors that are either non-union or have very weak 

unions. Operating as "code-share" airlines, with the same or very similar paint schemes, 

these regional subcontractors pay their employees a fraction of the wages of the major 

airlines, and their work rules, training, and standard operating procedures are vastly 

inferior to those of their major airline franchisers. In most cases the traveling public has 

no idea that the flight they are on is not actually being operated by the airline from which 

they purchased their tickets. 

The February, 2009 crash of a Continental Connection Bombardier Q400 while on 

approach to Buffalo, New York was a text-book example of an entirely unnecessary crash 

caused by outsourcing. The EWR-BUF route on which the aircraft was flying had 

originally been a Continental Airlines route, but had been subcontracted to Colgan . 

Airlines. The copilot, who was suffering from a cold, had spent the previous night 

commuting from her home in Seattle, where she lived with her parents and worked parttime in a coffee shop because her Colgan Airlines pay was less than $20,000 per year. 

The captain had failed numerous check rides. The aircraft was not equipped with the 

autothrottle option that would have prevented the loss of airspeed and the resulting stall 

and crash (all modem airliners operated by the major airlines have autothrottles). Colgan 

. airlines did not have Standard Operating Procedures (such as those of United Airlines) 

that call for the non-flying pilot to be monitoring the airspeed and directing a missed 

approach if an excessive discrepancy occurs. Because of inadequate training, pay, 

qualifications, and working conditions, the Colgan Airlines pilots flew.a perfectly good 

aircraft into the ground, killing 50 people. 

The airline industry employs hundreds of thousands of people in the United States; prior 

to the passage of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, airline employees were solidly 

members of the middle class, but that's no longer the case. The pressures from either 
SlO-lOOl14-034 

actual outsourcing or even just the threat of outsourcing have taken away the bargaining 

power of airline unions. Average airline pilot salaries, for example, have declined 42% in 

the last thirtY years. Ten years ago, United Airlines, one of the worst outsourcing 

offenders, employed more than 100,000 people. Now it employs less than half that 

nwnber, because more than half of its domestic flying has been outsourced to seven 

regional subcontractors, all of which have to compete with each other for the right to fly 

under the United franchise for the lowest cost. 

Mr. President, in your speech to the AFL~CIO convention on September 15,2009, you 

spoke of building a new foundation for lasting prosperity by laying down rules to protect 

consumers from abuse, and by building a strong labor movement with good jobs that pay 

well and cannot be outsourced. Here as an opportunity to do just that, by outlawing the 

practice of "cod~sharing" that permits airlines to outsource so much of their flying, and 

by amending the Railway Labor Act to give single--carrier status to all subcontractors 

doing business under a particular franchise. You might even consider establishing a 

modern-day equivalent of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Civil Aeronautics Board to 

provide economic regulation of the airline industry. 

Mr. President, airline employees are some of your strongest supporters. Many ofus 

worked very hard to ensure your election in 2008. We did so because we believe that you 

are our best hope to put a stop to the anti-middle class policies of the previous 

. Administration, and, in your own words, " ... make possible the dreams of middle class 

families and make real the promise of the United States of America" Please don't let us 

down. 

Sincerely, 

Boeing 

~~ 767 First Officer 

United Airlines 
Mr. Larry !<obert ~Ibley 

4806 N Foxglove Dr NW 

Gig Harbor. WA 98332-8106 

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