US: Pilots aren’t told when co-workers fall ill, union says

The largest US pilots’ union is demanding the government force airlines to inform flight crews when co-workers fall ill to Covid-19. Some carriers haven’t been following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance that they let their employees know when they’ve been exposed to the new coronavirus, the Air Line Pilots Association said in a letter to the FAA. “Friday’s reports of the death from Covid-19 of an American Airlines flight attendant is especially sobering, and highlights the exigency of taking all needed measures to avoid further contagion of airline crew members,” Joe DePete, president of ALPA, wrote in the letter, which was dated Tuesday. While large swaths of America are hunkered down in their homes, airlines are continuing to fly and the government plans to require at least a low level of flight service for carriers taking part in a $50 billion bailout program of loans and grants. “An urgent FAA order, directive or regulatory requirement is needed because ‘guidance’ from the Centers for Disease Control is not mandatory and is not being consistently followed,” DePete wrote. FAA Administrator Steve Dickson “followed up with ALPA and we are working to make sure they are in contact with the right people at the CDC to best address the issue,” the agency said. The union also said that unspecified airlines aren’t following FAA and CDC guidance on how to disinfect aircraft.<br/>