American Airlines and Pilots Reach Tentative Settlement

A TENTATIVE contract agreement was reached Saturday by American Airlines and the 8,800-member Allied Pilots Association, the National Mediation Board said. Board chairman Joshua Javits said the agreement was reached after 35 days of talks.

``APA President Fred Vogel and Ralph Craviso, American's vice president-employee relations, express satisfaction that a long and difficult period of negotiations has been successfully concluded with a mutually beneficial new contract,'' said a joint statement released in Fort Worth.

``Negotiators for both parties will meet [this] week to commit the tentative agreement to final contract language, and details will be made available as soon as possible,'' American spokesman Al Becker said.

``We're very pleased with the outcome, but there are still things to be worked out, including contract language and the ratification process, probably beginning next weekend,'' APA's Tom Hunt said.