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CA Casey Murray

President

Captain Casey A. Murray is president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA). He was elected president in the fall of 2020 and began his term in January 2021.

Captain Murray, 55, was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and earned a Bachelor of Science in aeronautical studies with a minor in public relations/advertising from the University of North Dakota. He then went on to earn his doctor of jurisprudence from The John Marshall Law School.

Casey was hired by Southwest Airlines in 2007 after spending 17 years at Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA). During his time at ASA, he held the position of Check Airman and was on the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) negotiating team.

He began serving the pilots of SWAPA in 2009 when he joined the Negotiating Committee. He remained on that committee until 2012, helping with the integration of pilot groups following Southwest Airlines’ acquisition of AirTran in 2010. After a break, he returned to SWAPA in early 2015 and began work with the Training and Standards Committee. At the end of 2015, he was chosen to help recruit and chair a new Negotiating Committee following the failure of the first Contract 2012 tentative agreement (TA). After resuming formal talks with Southwest Airlines in early 2016, his team successfully negotiated a second TA that was ratified by 84% of the pilot group, the largest margin in SWAPA history. Captain Murray was also instrumental in guiding SWAPA through a series of first-ever informational picketing events, including the largest single-day event in commercial aviation history when 1,000 SWAPA pilots participated in an event at Southwest Airlines’ home base at Dallas Love Field.

Casey lives in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, with his wife of 26 years. They have one son in college working on a degree in medicine. He and his wife are very involved in their community and continue to run several businesses, as well as oversee the planning and execution of two successful churches.