CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A dissident group of pilots won a historic election at US Airways ( LCC ) Thursday, ousting the Air Line Pilots Association as their representatives after 57 years. The recently formed U.S. Airline Pilots Association gained 2,723 votes, compared with 2,254 votes for ALPA, in a union election conducted by the National Mediation Board. About 95% of the 5,238 eligible pilots voted, including around 4,300 active pilots. The vast majority of 1,800 pilots from the former America West likely voted for ALPA, meaning that only about 500 of the pilots from the former US Airways, known as the "east," failed to support the new union. The primary issue was an arbitrator's ruling on pilot seniority that followed the 2005 merger between the two airlines. The 2007 ruling appeared to favor west pilots over east pilots, placing hundreds of east pilots with 15 or more years at the airline behind west pilots with a couple of years. The two pilot groups have been bitterly divided since the ruling.