Following up on our last update many of you have been asked for more details and how each of you can lessen the continuous disruption caused by the additional flying being done without sufficient crews.
Crew Shortage – Roster Stability (or Instability)
It is important to show you the trend of not crewed flights that is occurring two (2) days before the flights are scheduled to depart. What we see from the graph below, is that Cargolux is on average 10 pilots short per day which further confirms that shortage of between 50-95 pilots! You can also see that it is getting worse.
Click on the image to view in full size.
The Back to Back (B2B) issue as we have written in the past is being used as a standby system and again you can see from the graph above the extended use of this. Again, this causes a disruption on your ability to plan your rest and has the potential to cause fatigue on the next duty or series of duties. The Chief Pilot Office indicated that they have approval for this and when challenged to provide the proof, there was no reply!
Please use the ALPL guidance to mitigate the disruptive nature of the B2B after you have departed from Home Base.
As ALPL and as Delegates we have made this clear to the CEO and Chief Pilot Office about the respect of the CWA. No rectification has been received so far which has now required the LCGB to act. A letter was sent on Tuesday 21 November and will be followed up with the Inspection of Labor (ITM). If this does not resolve the problem, it will be taken further through the appropriate authorities.
What can you do?
No doubt you are receiving multiple roster changes. It does not help you by continuing to view the PBS or the iAIMS application and by accepting these continuous changes.
Home Base
- Once you have complied with the requirement to view the roster, there is no further need to do so.
- Your obligation then is to manage you rest before the scheduled flight.
- If you get a delayed report message from Crew Control, check that your legal FDP limits are respected.
- Politely inform Crew Control of any discrepancy
Downroute
- Same applies. Do not keep looking at the PBS or iAIMS for changes.
- The company has the obligation to inform you well in advance of any roster changes through the delayed reporting system.
- If you are sleeping for an upcoming duty when you receive this notification, assess if this delayed reporting will impact your fitness to operate the next duty.
The reason we provide this guidance is that once you accept any additional change, Crew Control moves on and possibly gives your flight to another pilot, and this continues, on and on, almost never-ending and probably coming back to you with a further change.
As always, please email us on cvboard@alpl.lu if you need further guidance.
Joint Venture Airline (JVA) – Henan Cargo Airlines
You may have heard through the media that yet again the JVA has been postponed until 2019 and with more uncertainties of how it will be crewed.
In late September and late October follow up meetings were held together with the CEO and the management pilots who are responsible for this project. These meetings were foreseen after the issue we faced with a non-type rated Captain, earmarked for the JVA and planned to get his flying experience with Cargolux First Officers.
This individual issue was resolved and this pilot is no longer employed in Cargolux due to several reasons, one being the delay of the JVA commencement.
In these two meetings, an overview was presented on how and possibly when this airline would commence. The offer to train as Captains and temporary post (minimum three years) 15-18 First Officers from Cargolux Luxembourg to the JVA was still on the table.
However, the preferred aim still seems to be to employ pilots with wide body experience, type rate them on B747 and (which is still the most controversial point) to integrate them thereafter in the operation of Cargolux Luxembourg for the sake of getting line flying experience.
Although management stated that this path will not create any “negative” side effects for Cargolux Pilots, our concerns are as follows:
- Any external entry Captain will affect a First Officer in Cargolux waiting for his/her upgrade by extending their waiting time and subsequently delay a financial improvement during this time.
- Any external entry Captain will delay the internal upgrade process at Cargolux and therefore just shift the apparent problem of being understaffed just down the time line.
We asked and received clarification on what the hiring and training plan would be for Cargolux Luxembourg and the JVA.
When we as an ALPL Board met in October to discuss this issue we came up with very clear principles which were communicated at the last meeting; being
- All commands for Cargolux Luxembourg need to be completed prior to any training commencing for the JVA
- Training under supervision for non-type rated pilots can be completed in Luxembourg, however no flying the line at Cargolux Luxembourg
- Training for the Cargolux First Officers to be Captains at the JVA will mirror the then non-type rated pilots
Another concern affects those First Officers with temporary contracts awaiting to start at the JVA and whose contracts will expire at the end of 2018. What will be the plan thereafter to employ the required numbers for the JVA? How many temporary contracts will we see at Cargolux again, which are not at all solving our permanent understaffed problem?
Finally, in the aviation industry where news travels fast, disturbing facts are being received that the information being promised to these non-types rated pilots is contrary to the above principles communicated. A letter was sent to the CEO asking to confirm or deny these rumours. Please click here to view this letter.
We will keep you informed on the outcomes of our communication to the CEO.
