USA: Airline Pilots seek to stay on job until age 65

WASHINGTON (Boston Globe - Bloomberg News), May 26, 2005:

Hundreds of US airline pilots are asking Congress to raise their mandatory retirement age to 65, saying the change won't threaten safety and would give workers more time to recover money lost to pension cuts.

The Federal Aviation Administration since 1959 has required that airline pilots retire at age 60.

Southwest Airlines Co., JetBlue Airways Corp., and pilots at other carriers, including those with pension troubles, want to extend the limit. Larger airlines and their pilot unions oppose a change.

''I regard it as a moral issue," said Herb Kelleher, Southwest's 74-year-old chairman, who was flanked by about 30 current and retired pilots at a Capitol Hill news conference yesterday.

''We have a bunch of splendid pilots right behind me who would be perfectly safe and totally competent if they were able to fly in our cockpits today."

Some of the biggest US carriers such as US Airways Group Inc. and United Airlines have moved to terminate pensions as the industry posted combined losses of $33 billion over the past four years.

Others, including Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp., have sought to spread payments over a longer period to keep plans viable.

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