American Airlines Group Inc.’s pilots union accepted a sweetened tentative agreement that would provide an immediate 23 percent pay increase to pilots, followed by additional raises in each year of the contract.

The five-year agreement was accepted by leaders of the Allied Pilots Association and must be voted on by members after all of the language in the accord is finalized, the union said in a statement on its website late yesterday.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mary Schlangenstein in Dallas at maryc.s@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ed Dufner at edufner@bloomberg.net.

Tags: american airlines, labor
Photo Credit: Members of the American Airlines pilots union, flight attendants union and other unionized employees march from the Airline Pilots Association office to American Airlines Headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas, in May 2012. Rodger Mallison / Fort Worth Star-Telegram/MCT)