As already communicated in our October Members Update, the DAC approved a derogation from ORO.FTL.235(b) regarding the use of aircraft onboard rest under certain conditions during COVID-19. The DAC refers to this as “unplanned on board layover”.
Recently one of our members informed us, that the Duty and Rest times for the part of the crew that didn’t operate the sector immediately following such an “unplanned on board layover” and therefore had no access to the class 1 rest facility of the aircraft during the “unplanned on board layover”, were applied in an unsatisfactory way.
In order to get clarification from the competent authority we contacted the DAC asking how the Duty Time and the Minimum Rest Period are to be calculated. Please click here to view the letter sent to the DAC.
In its reply the DAC clearly states that for the part of the crew that does not have access to class 1 rest facilities and positions on the subsequent sector, all time spent onboard is considered as Duty Time and consequently counts towards all Duty Time Limits. The Duty Time for a pilot who positions immediately following the application of the “unplanned on board layover” can therefore easily exceed 24 hours (in our example close to 30 hours) and could have a considerable impact on the Duty Time limit of 60 hours within any seven consecutive days.
Consequently, and as confirmed by the DAC, the Minimum Rest Period following such an “unplanned on board layover” shall be as long as the previous Duty Period, counting from the Reporting Time for the Flight Duty Period immediately preceding the “unplanned on board layover” until the end of the Duty Period immediately following the “unplanned on board layover”.
Please note that this does NOT apply to the operating crew of the “second” sector who have access to the class 1 rest facility while on the ground duringthe “unplanned on board layover”. As per the derogation granted by the DAC, this time is considered as rest period.
The authorization granted by the DAC allows Cargolux to derogate from ORO.FTL.235 (b) but it does not exempt Cargolux from calculating the Duty Times and Minimum Rest Periods as per the CWA!
Consequently, these Duty hours must be taken into consideration when calculating the Duty Period limits as per CWA Art. 36.4.1, the minimum Rest Periods as per CWA Art. 36.10.1 and the overtime calculation as per CWA Art. 38.5. As it seems that this was not the case, a letter was sent to Senior Management regarding this non-compliance with the CWA.
In the meantime, we ask you to please refer to the reply by the DAC or contact us at cvboard@alpl.lu if you encounter any further discrepancy or have any questions.
