Please find below an update regarding
- COVID-19
- Clarification on payout of Swiss Life Supplementary Pension
- Notification during RES
COVID-19
The ongoing COVID-19 epidemic has an impact not only on our professional life and how flights are being conducted during this crisis but increasingly also on our private lives. Pilot Representatives are monitoring the situation and are closely in touch with EXCOM, the Chief Pilots Office and the OHSE department to ensure that the risk of an infection and the consequences thereof are kept at a minimum.
Please find below 3 letters that were sent to the CEO, the EVP Flight Operations and Chief Pilot since end of February 2020.
Letter from LCGB to the CEO (28 February 2020)
Letter from Pilot Representatives to the Chief Pilot (5 March 2020)
Letter from Pilot Representatives to the EVP Flight Operations (11 March 2020)
We also recommend to read the information provided in the dedicated Coronavirus (COVID-19) folder, which can be found in the SCL on the iPad under “Health and Safety Information” as well as checking the following links for additional information:
www.government.lu
Cargolux OHSE department
Furthermore, in the January Members Update we provided feedback on Fatigue Warnings that have been issued by Crew Control from various potentially fatiguing Flight Duty Periods (FDP).
Since the escalation of the COVID-19 many flights to potential hotspot areas, such as mainland China, have been adapted by using augmented crew operation to avoid layovers.
Although we welcome this proactive approach of the CPO to minimize the risk for our crews to be exposed to COVID-19, many of you have noticed that the augmented crew FDP lengths are close to the EASA limits.
Even in times of a viral crisis, potential fatigue remains an issue that needs to be safeguarded/mitigated. This is especially true on FDPs including multiple short sectors with resulting marginal sleeping opportunities. Being forced to use discretion in case of unforeseen delays and thereby avoiding a layover in mainland China would also increase the risk of fatigue.
We would like to provide some guidance on how to manage this extraordinary situation and some insight on how these operations are being conducted.
- Augmented Crew Operations
Please be aware that many of these augmented crew operations (3 or 4 pilots) will be combined with pilots coming from different destinations. It is therefore important to communicate with each other before such demanding duties in order to streamline the expectations of everybody involved and to ensure that ALL pilots are adequately rested before doing these exceptional FDP’s.An example of a difficult augmented FDP is ALA-PEK-XMN-BKK. Three sectors with 4 pilots where coordination amongst all pilots is vital to ensure that inflight rest opportunities are distributed efficiently to enable the most rested pilots at the controls when taking off and landing. Such FDP also requires a double crew as per the CWA.
- Potential Fatigue Mitigation
The initial plan by the CPO to augment the OVB-PVG-OVB FPDs with 4 pilots was now revised to 3 pilots due to the restrictions on crew availability. Many countries are applying various measures preventing full flexibility of the pilot community when operating through e.g. China, Italy or South Korea.The data we have collected in the past showed these types of FDPs created potential fatigue hotspots because these long duties were combined with minimum rests. Planning greater rest-buffers before and after these FDPs allows the possibility to complete these FDPs through mainland China and the following duties in a safe manner.
- Conclusion
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- Please be mindful of the requirement that ALL fellow crew members need to be adequately rested prior to the commencement of any FDPs that are potentially fatiguing.
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- Inflight rest is not the same as rest in accommodation where temperature, noise and light can be managed.
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- Obtaining the maximum possible sleep as close as possible to the wake-up call for ALL pilots is fundamental due to the potential need of using FDP discretion to avoid layovers in mainland China.
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- If additional rest is required before the commencement of an FDP or after an FDP please communicate and coordinate in a timely manner with your fellow crew members, local station, crew control and always submit an Air Safety (Fatigue) Report (ASR).
- Air Safety (Fatigue) Report (ASR) must always be submitted when fatigue has been experienced on any duties.
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As always if you need further guidance please contact cvboard@alpl.lu
Clarification on payout of Swiss Life Supplementary Pension
We would like to correct our statement in the February Members Update in regard to the Swiss Life Supplementary Pension pay out options, where we stated that it will not be longer possible to have the vested rights payed out when the affiliated person is still employed with Cargolux.
In general, complementary pension plans are only paid out once the employee goes into retirement or reaches retirement age.
However, as the Swiss Life Supplementarey Pension Scheme for crews is limited to age 60, the payout can be executed “immediately” at age 60 with the approval of the IGSS (Inspection Générale de la Sécurité Sociale).
According to Cargolux Payroll Department, every month the names of employees leaving Cargolux or pilots reaching age 60 are communicated to Swiss Life. Those will then be contacted by Swiss Life via postal mail to start the payout procedure.
Notification during RES
As it is not specifically defined in the CWA, which type of notification should be used, if a crewmember receives a duty during a Reserve duty, please note that crew control sometimes only sends an email to the affected crewmember without calling by phone.
To ensure that the newly assigned duty was noted and to clarify when the notification time of 18 hours starts, it is our opinion that crew control should call the pilot by phone in these cases.
This has also been communicated to the Chief Pilots Office.
