Angry about pay and worried about their seniority, more than half of all US Airways pilots ousted the Air Line Pilots Association as their union representative yesterday and installed an upstart labor group promising to unite fliers on the East and West coasts.

"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 the Air Line Pilots Association, or ALPA, for the newly formed US Airline Pilots Association, or USAPA, based in Charlotte, N.C. About 43 percent, or 2,254, of eligible pilots voted to keep ALPA, which represents more than 56,000 fliers at 41 airlines.

The National Mediation Board tallied the voting, which began March 20 and ended at 2 p.m. yesterday. It intends to certify the final count today.

US Airways pledged yesterday to honor the rank-and-file choice and work with USAPA on a single contract covering all pilots. Fliers from the old Arlington, Va.-based US Airways and Tempe, Ariz.-based America West Airlines still work under separate labor agreements 2¹/₂ years after a merger of the two carriers.

But the East-West tensions may not ease with yesterday's tally.

The drive for a new union began with the feeling among East pilots that a seniority list drawn up for the combined US Airways-America West did not adequately reward them for their sacrifices through two bankruptcies and favored the younger pilots out West. The dispute degenerated into physical confrontations, allegations of "vicious, thuggish tactics" and the alleged distribution via e-mail of a propagandistic photograph inspired by the Ku Klux Klan.

"It remains to be seen if the formerly sore losers on the East side of the company can be gracious winners or if they will continue their boorish behavior," wrote one person in comments posted yesterday on usaviation.com. Another wrote that the new union has "absolutely no support" out West.

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

But Stephen Bradford, interim president of the newly formed US Airline Pilots Association, promised unity and conciliation.

USAPA, he said in a release, "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, East and West."