US Airways pilots overwhelmingly approve labor agreement for a merger

As AMR Corp.'s American Airlines and US Airways Group Inc. intensify their talks on a possible merger that could be announced in the coming days, US Airways pilots on Friday widely approved a provisional labor agreement that would help smooth the path toward a combination, their union said.

The US Airline Pilots Association, which represents 5,200 US Airways pilots, said Friday that its members approved the interim labor memorandum of understanding with 75% of the votes cast. The union's board of directors unanimously agreed early last month to put the agreement—negotiated by the two airlines and the pilots union at American—out to a vote. If AMR chooses not to merge but to exit from bankruptcy on its own, the agreement would be moot