In this update we would like to give you an overview of the following subjects:
- Progressive early retirement scheme (préretraite progressive)
- Vacation bidding and allocation for 2021
Progressive early retirement scheme
The Luxemburgish social system as well as our CWA foresees numerous attractive part time schemes as well as certain early retirement schemes.
With the average age of the pilot group increasing in the coming years, more colleagues might want to take advantage of the progressive early retirement scheme (préretraite progressive), which is available provided that certain requirements are met.
There are some restrictions and requirements in place, one is that the employee must have worked at least 75% of the normal working-time during the 5 years preceding the application for préretraite progressive and that he/she could go into retirement latest 3 years after entering the préretraite progressive. While obviously the minimum age requirement of 57 would be met easily, certain part time schemes in the later stage of someone´s career could represent a hurdle to qualify for the early retirement scheme.
Please keep this in mind especially when approaching retirement age.
We recommend getting in contact with us via cvboard@alpl.lu if you are uncertain about applying for a certain retirement or part time scheme or if you require more information.
Vacation bidding and allocation for 2021
After the Two Step Vacation Bidding process it turned out, that not all vacation bids have been granted as requested. This resulted in a larger number of outstanding vacation days and some colleagues were left with only half of their yearly vacation entitlement allocated in 2021.
Besides a minor technical issue of the system, one main reason was the lack of flexibility and alternatives put into the bidding system when placing the bids by individual pilots. This resulted in many bids not being considered by the system and therefore no vacation days being allocated because e.g. the slots were taken by colleagues with higher seniority or not available anymore after the first bidding round.
In a recent meeting with the VP Flight Operations, the new Head of Crew Planning and Pilot Representatives this issue was discussed and there is a common understanding that the vacation bidding and allocation process needs to be finetuned in order to increase the individual success rate and to reduce the outstanding vacation days in the future.
In a first step it was agreed, that after the allocation of the V-Days, a 3rd round for vacation bidding will be announced as soon as possible. In this round priority will be given to pilots who have been allocated less than 37 vacation days in 2021.
Subsequently, all pilots will be able to bid for outstanding vacation days as per the published “Two Step Vacation Bidding System”.
