Pilots at Southwest Airlines Co. overwhelmingly have approved a five-year agreement with the Dallas-based carrier, five months after rejecting an earlier offer.

Representatives of the Southwest Airlines Pilots' Association said Monday that 87 percent of pilots voted for the contract. A previous deal died when 50.8 percent voted against it.

"After we voted down the first agreement in June, we returned to the table to address areas our membership felt needed improvement," SWAPA president Carl Kuwitzky said in a prepared statement. "We were able to negotiate positive changes in many of those areas."

SWAPA cited better job protections, pay rates and company contributions to retirement plans, as well as other improvements.

The pilots' contract became amendable on Aug. 31, 2006, and the two sides began talks that September. The new deal becomes amendable Sept. 1, 2011.

A sore point among some pilots has been Southwest's plans to begin code-sharing operations that will have Southwest feed passengers to international flights operated by Mexican carrier Volaris and Canadian carrier WestJet Airlines Ltd. beginning in 2010.

The concern is that other airlines would be doing flying that Southwest and its pilots could perform, an issue that has become more pressing as Southwest has throttled back its growth and slowed the promotion of pilots into the better-paying captain's seat.

"We are pleased this contract will strengthen our job protection language by eliminating the company's opportunities to hurt our pilot group in ways our peers have experienced," Kuwitzky said.

"However, we look forward to returning to the table in 2011 to focus strongly on areas that will likely be a higher priority, such as compensation."

The revised contract gives pilots a 2 percent raise retroactive to Sept. 1, 2007, and another 2 percent retroactive to Sept. 1, 2008, plus a third 2 percent increase in 2011.

Pay raises in 2009 and 2010 are to be based on Southwest's profitability. Analysts' consensus is that Southwest will earn 10 cents a share, or $74 million, in 2009 and 35 cents a share, or $260 million in 2010.

The rejected contract would have provided 2 percent raises for 2007, 2008 and 2009, with 2010 and 2011 dependent on airline profitability.

"It goes without saying that this new contract was negotiated in good faith during a consistently challenging economic period for the airline industry," Southwest chairman, president and chief executive Gary Kelly said.

"Our pilots are the hardest-working and most productive in the business and deserve a contract that reflects this, yet is still in keeping with the current uncertain economic outlook."