We hope you had a pleasant festive season and a good start into 2017. 2016 kept us quite busy and we don’t expect 2017 to be any different. Please find below an update on a few things.
Diversion into VIE
As many of you have heard already, a Cargolux flight on the way to DWC had to divert to VIE due to a medical emergency. The Captain of the flight had to be brought to the hospital and we are glad that he is on the road to recovery. Get well soon!
We would also like to highlight the performance of the First Officer, who landed the aircraft safely in VIE to provide for the medical support necessary. Well done!
Liberate Delegate
After maintaining a permanent office position for the delegation in 2016, George Karambilas will vacate this position and return to flying duties in January 2017.
With the change of the labor law early 2016 each union could nominate a liberated delegate. George was willing to take up the job and we are thankful that he did. By doing so he was able to take over quite some work from the rest of us and being in the office facilitated our communication with management.
Unfortunately, it was impossible to find and agreement with management, whereby a pilot would maintain his minimum recency requirements and not to discriminate a pilot’s contract terms and conditions, whilst willing to take up the position as a liberated delegate. The 40 hours per week will now be distributed to all delegates and the pilots will now share only 16 hours per week
EASA FCL
The ALPL has received some inquiries regarding the possibility of retaining a non-Luxembourg EASA FCL. In some cases, this might be necessary in order to retain certain non-convertible privileges or endorsements; in other cases it is just personal preference.
The legal framework regarding this issue is clear; any requirement to obtain a Luxembourgish issued EASA FCL is against certain EU laws and therefore void – this has been decided already some time ago by the EU court.
In this context, we would like to point out that also CWA Art. B1-42.2 clearly constitutes the possibility to retain any national pilots license. So far, the Company has honored this regulation and has provided reasonable support. However, the restriction of reimbursement stipulated in the CWA is not backed by the EU legislator and therefore could be challenged if desired.
Should you encounter any difficulties or have any problems renewing your national license, please let us know. If desired and needed, we then can help.
