(SAN FRANCISCO) June 20, 2002—At a press conference held today at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), Captain Dan Ashby, chairman of the Air Line Pilots Association Council 34 in San Francisco, joined with other United Airlines pilots in a call for immediate action to modernize SFO into a world-class transportation gateway for consumers.

Noting that SFO must be modernized to address the current crisis of chronic delays and passenger disruption, Captain Ashby today called upon local officials to move forward with SFO modernization to deliver the levels of operational reliability and service that the traveling public demands from a high-functioning transportation hub.

“As pilots, our governing mission is to transport our passengers where they want to go with the highest degree of safety,” said Ashby.  “But the chronic delays caused by the combination of bad weather and reduced capacity have a frustrating effect on passengers and the pilots that operate under these difficult conditions.  Delays have a cost.  Not only the emotional cost of frustration, but the practical costs of added fuel, additional crews, out-of-position airplanes and diversions.”

“We want SFO to function as a world-class transportation hub and international gateway,” he added.

United`s pilots said modernization of the airport would allow for parallel operations, immediately improving the efficiency and safety that passengers enjoy out of SFO.

United`s pilots today encouraged local officials to remain focused on the driving reality: modernization is not a political choice, it is a consumer mandate.

“There is simply no alternative to modernization at SFO,” said Captain Dave Powell, United`s Chief Pilot in San Francisco. “Technological improvements will not deliver the kind of relief that passengers need today, let alone offer meaningful capacity improvements to address future demand for service at SFO.”

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