Horizon Air Flight Attendants Approve New Contract

Horizon Air and the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA have jointly announced ratification of a new two-year contract for the airline's 584 flight attendants.

The ratification vote concluded early today, and 61 percent of participants voted in favor. The approved contract takes effect Jan. 17, 2010, and is amendable in December 2011. The previous contract became amendable on Nov. 21, 2007.

The contract offers flight attendants at least a 3 percent pay increase over the life of the contract. Flight attendants also will now participate in the same performance-based incentive plan as the airline's dispatch and management employees.

Company and union representatives said having the new contract in place provides a solid foundation that will help Horizon successfully meet its challenges.

"The members’ acceptance of this contract shows that we can move forward and provides a foundation for the future," said Kathi Bruni, Master Executive Council president, Association of Flight Attendants-CWA.

"This contract recognizes the exceptional service our flight attendants provide day in and day out, while acknowledging the need for the company's costs to remain competitive, particularly in these difficult economic times," said Andy Schneider, Horizon's senior vice president of people and customer services. "I'm particularly glad that, with participation in the performance-based incentive plan, our flight attendants will now have the opportunity to see their efforts to help the company toward its goals reflected in their total compensation."

For over 60 years, the Association of Flight Attendants has been serving as the voice for flight attendants in the workplace, in the aviation industry, in the media and on Capitol Hill. More than 55,000 flight attendants at 20 airlines come together to form AFA-CWA, the world's largest flight attendant union. AFA is part of the 700,000-member strong Communications Workers of America (CWA), AFL-CIO. Visit us at www.afanet.org.

Horizon serves 48 cities throughout Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Baja California Sur (Mexico), and British Columbia and Alberta (Canada). Together, Horizon Air and Alaska Airlines serve more than 90 cities and are subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK). Horizon’s website is www.horizonair.com.