Cargolux

Following the election of the new CLX Divisional Board in May, we held our first Board Meeting to welcome the new members, allocate responsibilities, and discuss ongoing key topics. Below are the highlights and important reminders for you:

• PBS Working Group: Progress & Key Insights
• Additional Fatigue Reporting Forms – Every Report Counts
• ECA Defensive Flying Checklist
• Demonstration on 28 June 2025

PBS Working Group: Progress & Key Insights

Our ongoing work in the PBS Working Group continues to give us valuable insight:

• Success rate is on an upward trend (at least one Off Day Bid granted).
• Some small software bugs were identified and resolved in-house, based on your feedback to us or directly to Crew Planning.
• Still, roughly 10% of all bids remain non-viable. Please ensure your bids do not conflict with pre-allocated trips, vacation, or ground duties. Make use of dedicated waivers as necessary.
• Bid Priority Levels are commonly misunderstood. As explained in our tutorial videos, which you can watch on the ALPL website in the dedicated “PBS” section, the software ranks bids by priority:
  • A P1 bid has higher priority than P2, P3, or P4 bids.
  • Lower priority bids are not alternatives to P1 bids with the same priority as P1 – they are processed by the software with a lower priority.
• Often, P1, P2, and P3 bids can be combined into a single, well-structured P1 bid, which greatly improves your success chances.
• Always reorder your bids by importance – put your most important one as P1, and avoid gaps between e.g. your Off Day bids and your Standing bids.
• Based on the gathered information, we will prepare a new video to address common misunderstandings and provide guidance on optimizing your bidding strategy.

Additional Fatigue Reporting Forms – Every Report Counts

We would like to remind every colleague of the importance of filing Fatigue Reports.

• The main Fatigue Report shall be used if you ask for more rest or if you experience any level of fatigue during the rotation.
• The additional Top of Descent Report should be used ideally on every flight to report self-assessed fatigue level by using the KSS scale from 1-9.
• The additional Controlled Rest Report should be used whenever you took a nap on the flight deck to mitigate fatigue. In such case, also submit a Fatigue Report.

It is important to know that every crew member should submit their own individual Fatigue Report and not on behalf of the whole crew.

These reports are critical for identifying fatigue hotspots and extremely important in supporting our FSAG Representatives when discussing and pushing for meaningful mitigations.

Furthermore, this is a quick and effective way to provide feedback to Cargolux and helps the ASD gather valuable fatigue data across the network.

ECA Defensive Flying Checklist

Due to “more flights, tighter schedules and fewer buffers“ within the industry, the European Cockpit Association has published a checklist that can be used by commercial pilots as a guideline for navigating through this challenge and we believe it is a useful tool. Please find the link below:

Demonstration on 28 June 2025

We encourage all members to join the LCGB and OGBL demonstration to voice our concerns regarding the current government policies:

• Location: Luxembourg City
• Time: 11:00 AM
• Let us stand together – loud, peaceful, and determined!

Your presence matters. Let’s show unity and strength!

A recording of the Divisional Assembly 2025 is available.
We encourage everyone, who was not able to attend the assembly on 07 May 2025 to watch this screencast. The main agenda items in this assembly were:

• Summary of the Division´ s activities including future challenges
• Forecasted financial plan for the year
• Election of a new Divisional Board
• Miscellaneous

On 14^th April 2025, the Cargolux Aviation Safety Department (ASD) issued a Safety Bulletin, in which two additional Fatigue Report Forms are introduced.

The ALPL Divisional Board encourages every pilot to participate and make use of these forms, preferably on every flight. 

As explained in the Bulletin, it is potentially a fast and easy way for pilots to give feedback to Cargolux and to enable the ASD to collect more data related to fatigue on our network. We expect that it will contribute to accurate data and a more proactive way in generating better pairings regarding fatigue mitigation.

While the feedback concerning your self-assessment at TOD will be important, particularly the amount of Controlled Rest used on our flights will be valuable information and the form can easily be filled out during the flight after making use of the Controlled Rest.

In our recent series of videos on “Pilot Fatigue – Fatigue and Performance” we attached a document from the Flight Safety Foundation on Controlled Rest on our website. Please click on the link below to read this document.

Flight Safety Foundation – Controlled Rest

In this context, please note that:

“CR on the flight deck is a short sleep opportunity, defined by ICAO (2015) as an effective mitigation strategy to be used as needed in response to unanticipated fatigue experienced during flight operations. It should not be used as a scheduling tool (more details on page 3). Please note the difference between Controlled Rest and In-Flight rest where we use our bunks.”

EASA is currently looking at the effectiveness of the FTL’s in the EU and their recent survey on Controlled Rest (CR) showed the following results:

• CR was used in 27.1% of the flights
• Highest prevalence during long and medium haul
• Mostly during night flights and early starts
• Pilots who take CR fall asleep 65.9% of the times
• Mean duration of the CR sleep was 24.1 minutes
   

Please note that these additional reports do not substitute the required Fatigue Reports as per OM-A 11.2 “Reportable Occurrences”, whenever you experience fatigue impacting or potentially impacting your ability to perform your flight duties safely. This also includes Controlled Rest on the flight deck when used as a fatigue mitigation.

Furthermore, please ensure that the IQSMS App on your company iPad is updated to the latest version to access the additional forms. We also recommend opening the App before each flight so that all relevant flight data is already available and pre-filled when you open the form in-flight. This will help reduce your workload.

If you have questions, don’t hesitate to send an email to cvboard@alpl.lu, and remember that we as pilots must contribute to the reporting system.

Thank you very much!

In our ongoing efforts to help improve bid success rates and minimize invalid bids, please note the following procedures for handling special situations or roster changes occurring after the bidding deadline but before roster publication:

1. SIM Changes
If a SIM session is either preallocated or rescheduled and conflicts with your bid:

• Inform Kevin Lehmann (Kevin.Lehmann@cargolux.com) of the conflict kindly requesting a rescheduling of the SIM event or GTR.
• If a resolution through Kevin is not possible, submit an updated OFF day bid per mail to Crew Planning (Crewplanning@cargolux.com).

2. Overlapping Trip Occurs
In case a trip changes overlapping into the next month creating an inefficiency or a collision with your existing bid:

• Contact Crew Planning and submit an updated OFF day bid.

3. VIP/Special Requests
For any unique personal needs or special requests related to your bid:

• Please contact CPO directly (CPO@cargolux.com).

Ideally, these requests should be submitted in a timely manner. Amended bids sent up to about one week before roster publication are more likely to be accommodated by Crew Planning.

By following these steps, we hope to be able to contribute to a smoother bidding process and better outcomes for all pilots.

Floating Off day requests: Please ensure that your request encompasses the whole timespan which in the Off days are supposed to be in. It can never be shorter than the amount of consecutive days requested. 

Thanks for your understanding.

Please find below an update on the following topics:

• Adjustment of duty hours overtime threshold for part time pilots 
• Reminder: New procedure regarding sick notes 
• How to switch funds for savings and employer contribution for SwissLife 
• PBS Working Group

Adjustment of Duty hours overtime threshold for part time pilots
We are pleased to announce that, after identifying a technical issue that prevented the correct adjustment of the monthly overtime threshold for part-time pilots in the past, we have now worked with management to implement a proper solution.

Rather than simply applying the part-time factor to the standard 173 duty hours per month, the threshold will now be reduced by a fixed number of duty hours per XPA day. This method ensures the same result as applying the part-time factor while accounting for the various part-time schemes available. Scheme C (full roster off) remains unaffected by these changes.

Additionally, any missing overtime will be recalculated retroactively from January 2020 and paid out as soon as possible. Please note that this adjustment applies only to the duty hours threshold and does not affect the overtime threshold for block hours, which remains unchanged.

We would like to remind you to be vigilant and report any observed irregularities to us as soon as possible. This issue could have been identified a lot earlier but thanks to three of our members this was done at least in 2023/2024.

Reminder: New procedure regarding sick notes
This is a kind reminder that since the 4^th of December 2024 it is not possible anymore to send your sick note to the CNS via email. 

Latest before the end of the 3rd working day of my absence from work you have to send your certificate of incapacity of work to the CNS, by using either of the following options:

Online:
Complete the form on the CNS website and upload your sick note. 

By post:
To the following address:

CNS
Indemnités Pecuniaires
L-2980 Luxembourg

With regard to the requirement to send a copy of your sick note to Cargolux, nothing has changed.

How to switch funds for savings and employer contribution for SwissLife
Occasionally we still receive questions regarding the recent changes in the SwissLife supplementary pension plan. 

As a reminder, we now have the choice to invest the contributions in 2  ETFs, which in the past had a higher average performance in the financial market over a longer period of time compared to the other available funds Please note that this is not a financial advise.

One of our members was kind enough to provide us with an extensive guide on how to change the allocation of the employer contribution and the already existing savings. The document is available in the members area of the ALPL website and can be found here.

PBS Working Group
In our last PBS working group meeting we received a presentation of the FEB bidding results, the first month where the new bidding options have become available. The results improved compared to previous months. Roughly one third of the bids included a waiver with roughly two thirds of them being granted, which means that this is already a good result.

Currently we are observing a perceived reduction in bid success rate indicated through the number of colleagues reporting their discontent. We got confirmation that due to high demand and school holidays in beginning of March (too many colleagues requested the same time period off) it was a challenging roster to produce. Something that we could already see in previous years.

Another challenge that Crew Planning is facing now is an unexpected significant extension in calculation time to produce rosters. Until now, several „runs“ aimed to improve the global bid success rate while ensuring that flights are covered. During this calculation time whole AIMS is put in a „freeze mode“ preventing Crew Control and Network Planning from making inputs or any changes. Therefore, this time is limited to one working day. Now, due to the added complexity a calculation run takes around 5 to 6 hours instead of roughly 1 to 2 hours, a situation which nobody could anticipate before and requires a solution. In other words, whilst in the past Crew Planning could optimize the bidding success via several runs to achieve the best result, this is currently not possible due to the time constraint. Thus, at the moment they cannot confirm whether the produced roster already is the best solution. 

We would like to ask you to submit your non granted bids to us (cvboard@alpl.lu) so that we can either identify and address potential system flaws or provide guidance in case of individual unsuitable bidding strategy. Particularly non granted bids from high seniority colleagues can give us a good picture.

As mentioned already, it will require several months to collect data and analyze the system performance of the new PBS compared to the old system. February is only a snapshot, and we will see the statistics of the March and April roster in the next PBS working group. 

Please find below an update on the following topics:

• Global Pilot Survey
• Duty-Free Allowances for Airline Crews
• Social Parameters Luxembourg 2025 

Global Pilot Survey
The Western University, in partnership with IFALPA, is conducting a Global Pilot Survey. You are kindly invited to participate and leave your input to help shaping the future of the global pilot agenda. Please click on the provided links below:

FULL Version (15-20 min) for a complete picture:
https://uwo.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_5d6WiZ7AKYPfiWW
The password for the survey is: vffd24

Short Version, if time is tight – every response counts:
https://uwo.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_87cwk45AswwTmbI
The password for the survey is also: vffd24

Duty-Free Allowances for Airline Crews
We reached out to Luxembourg customs for an update regarding the Duty-Free Allowances and received the following limitations for the import of goods into Luxembourg.

1. Goods Imports (Personal Purchases)
Airline crew members can bring up to €150 worth of goods (or the equivalent in other currencies) for personal use. This typically covers items such as clothing, electronics, souvenirs, and other personal purchases. The key point here is that the goods are for personal use, and not for resale or commercial purposes.

2. Tobacco Products
Tobacco allowances allow crew members to bring a specific amount of tobacco products without paying additional taxes. The following limits are common in many countries:

• 40 cigarettes
• 20 cigars
• 10 cigars (cigarillos)
• 50 grams of loose tobacco

3. Alcoholic Beverages
The duty-free allowances for alcohol vary depending on the alcohol content and type. The typical limits are as follows:

• 0.25 liters of alcoholic beverages with an alcohol content higher than 22% (e.g., spirits such as whiskey, vodka, rum).
• 0.5 liters of alcoholic beverages with an alcohol content of 22% or less (e.g., liqueurs or lower-alcohol wines).
• 1 liter of wine (including champagne and sparkling wine).
• 4 liters of beer.

These allowances are usually designed for personal consumption and cannot be resold. In some cases, customs officials may ask crew members to prove that the alcohol is for personal use, especially if they are carrying large quantities.

These limits can be found at Règlement grand-ducal du 1er décembre 2008 concernant les franchises et exonérations de la  taxe sur la valeur ajoutée accordées dans le trafic international de voyageurs en provenance ou à destination de pays tiers article 5 and 8.

Social Parameters Luxembourg 2025
The LCGB has published the Social Parameters for 2025. These include minimum wages, family allowances, information about health insurance and pension. 

Click here to read the leaflet. More information can also be found on the LCGB website. 

Please find below an update on the following topics:

• Planning Limit vs Operational Limit for a Standard Flight Crew
• Clarification on managing fatigue
• Availability and compensation
• Know your CWA
• Cargolux Year End celebration

“Planning Limit” vs “Operational Limit” for a Standard Flight Crew
It has been brought to our attention that on several occasions flights for a Standard Flight Crew have not been planned as by the rules of the CWA. CWA Article 36.6.2.2. is applicable to all Flight Duty Periods conducted by a Standard Flight Crew and the “Planning Limit” is the limit for Crew Planning and Crew Control when producing and/or changing the rosters.  The “Operational Limit” constitutes the legal limit according to OM-A Chapter 7.5.

To clarify, the “Planning Limit” is applicable until Reporting Time and all flights must be scheduled accordingly!In case the planned FDP exceeds the Planning Limit at or before the Reporting Time, the flight must be operated with an Augmented Crew. 

Only after Reporting Time, the “Operational Limit” becomes applicable. This is to create enough buffer for unforeseen delays, e.g. fuelling, loading, technical problems, that could occur after Reporting Time and to prevent a Standard Flight Crew from exceeding the legal limit and being forced to apply Commander´s Discretion.

We ask everyone to be familiar with the CWA and insist that the CWA is followed in any case.

Clarification about managing fatigue
We are aware that crews are being planned to the maximum allowable FDP and that rosters are extremely challenging due to roster changes and the combination of long FDP followed by minimum rest periods, etc. Due to the high business demand and ongoing crew shortage the situation will not improve soon. Thus, we feel it is important to clarify certain possible misunderstandings regarding the self-assessment of your alertness level and the management of fatigue.

We cannot emphasise enough how important it is not to just blindly accept what you see on your roster. 

It is crucial to recognize that, as a result of the recently conducted survey, the company’s responsibility to “ensure that flight duty periods are planned in a way that allows crew members to remain sufficiently free from fatigue” (OM-A 7.1.2) is not always being adequately met. We elaborated on the reasons in our previous updates and highlighted the over-reliance on the bio-mathematical model, which cannot take all facts into consideration.

In such situations, we as pilots must prioritize not only our health but also our responsibility to ensure safety. According to OM-A 7.1.8, we “shall not perform duties on an aircraft if we know or suspect that we are suffering from fatigue.”

This means that, at times, it may be necessary to request additional rest at an outstation, for instance. Doing so is not a refusal to work, nor does it imply any wrongdoing. On the contrary, it demonstrates that you are fulfilling your responsibilities as a pilot.

Also, extending your rest as a First Officer does NOT mean you will be flagged by any department within the company or expect any negative impact on future opportunities, such as upgrades. Management clearly expects from us as professionals to follow all binding regulations, which includes the OM-A. 

It’s important to understand that, compared to some competitors, we currently operate with a lower crew factor, and this is a critical aspect to keep in mind.

More information on fatigue and how to deal with it will follow soon, but below are some examples where pilots should get suspicious:

• Consecutive FDPs through the WOCL with minimum rest in between
• Arriving in the U.S. after crossing the dateline
• Consecutive rest periods of 24 hours or less
• Standard crew FDPs through the WOCL of 6 hours or more

Please refer to our last update on fatigue and ask for more rest if necessary. Don’t forget to file Fatigue Reports and use the published guidelines.

Availability and compensation
We would like to clarify that if pilots voluntarily offer to fly during their off time, the company has the discretion to determine the applicable compensation. It is then up to the individual pilot to accept the terms and operate the flight or decline. This does not constitute a breach of CWA articles 36.16.2 and 36.16.3. 

In conclusion, crew members offering their availability cannot accept a financial compensation and change their mind in hindsight to e.g. a two for one off day compensation. 

Nonetheless, if a pilot arrives at their home base late into their scheduled off days, the aforementioned articles apply, and the pilot’s choice of compensation must be honoured by the company.

Know your CWA
In recent months, we have updated our guidelines on the proper application of the new CWA, which came into effect on 22 December 2023. Our updates focus on each chapter, emphasizing key points in the relevant sections and offering situational examples to enhance your understanding of how the CWA applies to you. 

This information is intended to help you implement the rules effectively in the day-to-day operation.
You can find these guidelines in a newly dedicated “CWA” section on the ALPL website. 

Cargolux Year End celebration
In the past, one issue raised with management was the perceived exclusion of crews from company events due to late announcements, often made after the bidding deadline, despite this not being the intention.

We are pleased to note that the announcement for the year-end party on 13 December 2024, has been communicated well in advance, giving us the opportunity to bid for off days and have a chance to attend.

This event presents an opportunity for us, as flight crew members, to reconnect with our colleagues from HQ and maintenance. We hope to see you there!