In a vote tallied today, rank-and-file US Airways pilots decided to unseat the Air Line Pilots Association as their union representative and replace it with an upstart labor group.

"We lost," said Air Line Pilots Association spokesman Pete Janhunen.

And "it was not very narrow."

Of 5,238 eligible pilots, 2,723 voted to leave ALPA for the newly formed US Airline Pilots Association, based in Charlotte, N.C. There were 2,254, votes to keep ALPA, which represents more than 56,000 pilots at 41 airlines. The National Mediation Board tallied the votes and announced the results this afternoon.

"It's going to be extremely difficult for me personally and professionally to watch what happens to this pilot group now," said US Airways pilots union chairman Jack Stephan. "Industry consolidation is inevitable, and the economy is slowing. I believe that these challenges will be too much to ask of an untested, under-funded union."

Pilots from the old US Airways and America West Airlines are still without a single contract two and a half years after a union of the two carriers.

Stephen Bradford, interim president of the new US Airline Pilots Association, said in a release that USAPA "will approach management in a more businesslike fashion to address the deficiencies of the collective US Airways pilots' contracts, both East and West."

"The US Airways pilots have spoken for a change in union representation," he added. "USAPA is ready on day one to begin a new era for all US Airways pilots." He promised to be "fully accountable" to rank-and-file pilots.

An ALPA spokesman said the election was not close enough to challenge.