AirTran's Learning From History

Considering their background as onetime Eastern Airlines employees, leaders on both sides of the negotiations between AirTran Airways (AAI Quote) and its pilots are taking a decidedly moderate approach.

Recent turmoil in the airline industry has left the carrier and the pilots in relatively favorable positions, so that neither side seeks major changes. It's a far cry from what happened at Eastern, where hostility between management and labor led to a three-union strike that shut the airline down 15 years ago.

"We've all learned from Eastern," says Allen Philpot, a one-time Eastern striker who serves as president of the National Pilots Association, the independent union that represents AirTran's 1,400 pilots. ...