Cargolux

In our last issue of our series “Know your CWA” we take a closer look at “Vacation”.

Below you find the articles as published in the current CWA. Further below we provide some comments and explanations for these articles.



In general, these rules are applicable for all pilots. Only the number of vacation days a pilot is entitled to is different for pilots, who were employed at or after 01 December 2015 and mentioned in CWA B3-35.4.

Like always it is the obligation of the company to follow these rules and a pilot is entitled to a roster reflecting these rules. However, as a pilot you should know what these rules are. If a pilot notices a none compliance with the CWA it is his right that his roster will be changed to be fully compliant with the CWA.

Vacation is governed by articles B1-37.2, B2-36.3 and B3-35.4.

B1-37.2. Vacation
B1-37.2.1 General Rules
Vacation time begins and ends at the Pilot’s Home Base. The Pilot will be scheduled to be Off Duty for at least 12 hours before the start of vacation time.

In case of ground Duty (any Duty excluding positioning or operating an aircraft) at Home Base, the Pilot will be scheduled to be Off Duty 6 hours before his vacation period.

Vacation during the initial training period is addressed in the individual employment contract.

During the calendar month in which the Pilot is on vacation, his Crew Duty will be regulated as follows for the purpose of calculating overtime:

Each day of vacation time is credited as 8 hour towards the 160 hours limit per 28 day Roster Period. For the calculation of paid vacation hours, 8 hours per day and 56 hours per week will however be taken into account.

B1-37.2.2. Sickness during vacation
If a Pilot falls ill during his vacation, the days during which he is ill will not be counted as vacation if he notifies Crew Control by means of a doctors’ certificate.
 
8 hours per day are counted towards credit hours, but not more than 40 hours per week for sickness of more than 5 consecutive days. This rule applies for sickness during the year.

B2-36.3 Vacation
The annual vacation will be 42 calendar days per year after the first year of service. Vacation for an incomplete year of service equals to number of months employed by the Company times 3.5 days.

* Note: For pilots employed after 01 December 2015 the following article is applicable:

B3-35.4 Vacation
The annual vacation will be 35 calendar days at the date of employment. Vacation in the first year will be pro rata of 35 days. The annual vacation entitlement increases as per below table until the maximum of 42 days per calendar year is reached. No additional vacation entitlement is due during the starting year.

The CWA contains only the general rules outlining vacation entitlements for pilots. The rules how vacation days are allocated are not stipulated in the CWA but outlined in the “Vacation-Bidding-System” document, which is distributed every year at the beginning of the vacation bidding period.

Below you will find some comments and explanations.

• A vacation day (VAC) is defined as a day, which begins and ends at midnight local time. All vacation days will be given at the pilot’s Home Base, which per CWA Part III is “For all Employees at the Company and for the Company itself: Luxembourg Airport.”

• A pilot is entitled to 42 vacation days per calendar year. If a pilot is not employed for the full 12 months of a calendar year, the vacation entitlement will be reduced. In this case the pilot is entitled to 3,5 vacation days per calendar month he is employed by the company.

*Note: For pilots employed at or after 01 December 2015, a spool up of vacation days – from 35 (pro rata) in year 1 to 42 in year 8 – is applicable.

• Before any vacation period, which could be also a single vacation day, the pilot will be free of all duties for a minimum of 12 hours. Only if, the day before the first vacation day consists of a ground duty, such as simulator or ground school, the time free of all duties before the first vacation day is reduced to minimum 6 hours.

Example A:
A pilot is scheduled to arrive back at Home Base the day before his first Vacation Day. The flight is scheduled to arrive at 08.15h UTC (10.15h local time). As the pilot operates this flight his duty ends 30 minutes after arriving back at Home Base, at 10.45h local time. This is in line with Art. 37.2.1 as the pilot “… will be scheduled to be Off Duty for at least 12 hours before his vacation period.”

Example B:
Pilot A and Pilot B have both vacation days scheduled immediately the day after they arrive back at Home Base. Pilot A is operating the flight back from IAH, while Pilot B is only positioning from IAH back to LUX.

Due to a network change the flight is now planned to arrive (Block On) at 09.40h UTC (11.40h local time).

In this case the Duty of Pilot A ends 30 minutes after Block On at 12.10h local time, while the Duty of Pilot B ends with Block On at 11.40h local time. As Pilot A is not “…Off Duty for at least 12 hours before his vacation period.” , his roster shall be changed. Pilot B still is “…Off Duty for at least 12 hours before his vacation period”, as his Duty ends as defined in B1-36.2. at Block On, which is in this example at 11.40h local time.

Example C:
A pilot is scheduled for ground school the day before his first vacation day. This duty should end at 15.00h UTC (17.00h local time), which gives the pilot more than the required “… 6 hours before the vacation period.”

• For each vacation day 8 hours are credited and are taken into consideration when calculating roster period overtime, as per Art. B1-39.5.1.

• If a pilot falls sick during a vacation period he is by law entitled to compensation for vacation days he was on sick leave. To receive vacation days back a pilot who is sick during vacation must provide the company with a sick leave certificate.

Please follow this link to download your copy of the CWA for your perusal on the company provided iPad or any other computer for future reference.

If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact us at cvboard@alpl.lu for clarification.

All parts of this series can be found here in the Publications section under Cargolux Board.

On 22 September 2017 the Cargolux Safety Department released a Fatigue Risk Management (FRM) survey on behalf of the Fatigue Safety Action Group (FSAG).

The FSAG is comprised of representatives from the Aviation Safety Department (ASD), Flight Operations management (Chief Pilots Office), Crew Control and two Pilot Representatives from the ALPL. The survey contains questions seeking general and specific information that will assist the FSAG in analyzing where improvements to managing and mitigating fatigue can be made.

If you have not viewed the Fatigue Awareness and Countermeasures Training (FACT) that was produced by the Aviation Safety Department, please take the time to access it on your iPad via the “CrewPad Player” application.

In addition to the current Cargolux FRM survey a request from EASA to participate in live data gathering for a research study will be released at the end of October. Here is a brief description of this survey:

• The European Commission (EC) together with EASA has set up a research study to perform a review of the effectiveness of the flight and duty time limitations and rest requirements applicable as of 18 February 2016 (EASA FTL)
• The objective is to determine whether the EASA FTL rules provide sufficient protection from potential consequences of aircrew fatigue and, if necessary, to make recommendations for changes to the rules
• This review of the EASA FTL is being performed by NLR – Netherlands Aerospace Centre, in collaboration with Stockholm University, DLR – German Aerospace Centre and Jeppesen

Cargolux has been selected as one of a number of airlines to collect live data for this important EASA study. This live data will be critical in determining the potential need for adjustments to the current EASA FTL’s.

Considering the far-reaching consequences EASA FTL have on our operation and the possibility of demonstrating the necessity for adjustments to those FTL, we strongly encourage all members to participate in the Cargolux FRM survey, which was launched on 22 September 2017 (see your Cargolux email for further details and the link to the survey) and take part in the live data gathering for the research study conducted by the NLR on behalf of EASA. Please note, that these are two different surveys/studies! The live data gathering for the NLR research study will be launched at a later date.

Please find below an update on:

• Immobilized Off days (FFOD)
• Joint Venture Airline in China
• CWA Negotiation Survey
• Rostering of FDP and Rest Periods
• SwissLife Supplementary Pension.

Immobilized Off Days (FFOD)
In January 2017 Cargolux introduced a system to immobilize FOD (FFOD), which principles are laid down in CWA B1-37.1.3. c).

After the publication of Roster Period 10 we would like to take the opportunity to remind everybody to check the receipt of their entitled blocks of FFOD.

Attached is the text of the not yet ratified „FFOD agreement “, which deals with the allocation process of the FFOD and the harmonization with part time, long term sick leave and pilots, who join the company during the year.

In the event of any discrepancies, please feel free to contact us at cvboard@alpl.lu for further investigation.

Joint Venture Airline (JVA) in China
A letter was recently sent to all members regarding the situation of the JVA. Management has provided information that the JVA will most likely commence in the 4^th quarter of 2018. Other than that information nothing has been heard. As your Representatives we have two major concerns:

• Rumors of Direct Entry Captains being approached to be trained for the JVA who do not have a B747 type rating, and
• No plan being communicated on training of current First Officers at Cargolux to be Captains for the JVA on a temporary posting.

Following the letter that was sent a commitment to sit at the table and discuss how opportunities will be offered to First Officers for positions as Captains is now pending.

CWA Negotiation Survey
On 30 June 2017 we asked all our members to participate in a survey to highlight the most pressing issues which need to be changed in the upcoming negotiations.

In the last Divisional Board meeting on 04 September 2017, the result of the survey was presented and discussed. Based on that analysis, further steps regarding the strategy and preparing the negotiations were agreed on and will be communicated to the LCGB.

Without going too much into detail, the main priorities of our members focus, in no particular order, on removing the “B-scale”, roster stability, improving FTLs and salary increases.

Based on these results, this gives the ALPL a clear mandate what needs to be negotiated when the CWA expires in late 2018. A negotiating team has been formed and is now working on preparing all arguments.

Flight Duty Periods (FDP) Published Limits – Standard Crew
We are receiving reports that after roster changes the CWA FDP Roster publication limits for Standard Crews are not being respected.

It is important to know, that the word “published” is not only applicable at roster publication but must also be applied when your roster has been re-published after a change. It remains logical that the FDP you are now scheduled to operate are still bound to conform with ALL CWA limits.

EASA regulations clearly state an operator´s responsibility is to ensure that flights are planned to be completed within the allowable flight duty period. The 30 minutes buffer was agreed upon to prevent pilots always having to go into discretion.

Once a Standard Crew reports for duty, the full legal limits are applicable in case of unforeseen delays.

Please remain vigilant on enforcing your CWA. As always please contact us if you are not sure if your roster is compliant with the CWA.

Minimum Rest Periods
After recognizing an operational delay in AIMS during a rotation and the consequential request to confirm the change, many members noticed, that the related minimum rest requirements thereafter were not published accurately.

In these cases, please send a polite email to crew control requesting a corrected published roster with the correct minimum rest requirements as per the CWA.

SwissLife Supplementary Pension
It was brought to our attention by our members that there are apparently problems regarding the SwissLife Supplementary Pension Scheme. Several were reported, but the most pressing issue is an apparent age-discrimination that could have a serious impact on the benefits of eligible members.

Without going too much into detail, the problem is that the total annual amount of fixed contributions paid by the company is calculated at the beginning of the year at a fixed date while the benefits could vary decisively depending on the actual date of the beneficiary’s birthday.

This effect is further amplified by the allocation any employee to a certain age group which is influenced by the member’s actual date of birth, too. This allocation has in turn a critical effect on the date of migration of a beneficiary to the next higher contribution group and thus directly determines the total amount of money paid into the scheme over the course of time.

Together with interest-effects this could mean that certain beneficiaries could receive a substantially lower pension lump-sum at the end of the contractual period than other employees with the same number of years of contribution.

This discrimination by age was confirmed by IGSS of Luxembourg, which also proposed a different way of calculating the benefits in order to rectify this problem.

Since all employees are affected by the issue we put it on the agenda of the last delegation meeting. Our aim is to amend the scheme with the company in order to get these problems fixed and to avoid discrimination.

On 07 September 2017 members of the ALPL Cargolux Divisional Board, the ALPL Executive Board and the National President of the LCGB met with François Bausch, Minister for Sustainable Development and Infrastructure, to clarify urgent questions about the strategy of Cargolux in terms of Henan Cargo Airlines (HCA) and the possible benefits or disadvantages for Cargolux and its staff.

Regarding the economic situation of Cargolux, Minister Bausch believed a positive outlook was possible for the 2017 annual results. He further assessed the partnership with Emirates Sky Cargo as constructive. He distinctly dismissed any internal rumors that Emirates Sky Cargo wanted to end the partnership.

Cargolux’s zig-zag course concerning the Chinese-Luxembourgish joint venture HCA is, however, irritating. LCGB and ALPL raised various questions relating to the impact on the maintenance center and the pilots. In particular, the ancillary agreements, pilot training and a possible placement of Cargolux pilots at HCA and the possible reduction of the fleet size due to possible aircraft transfers to HCA. As numerous questions remain unanswered, Minister Bausch stated that it currently would be difficult to assess the development of the partnership and the possible contribution options for Cargolux. An active participation by means of transferring 3 aircraft to HCA is just one of many options.

Your representatives made it clear that the current fleet size of Cargolux will have to be maintained even in case of a transfer of aircraft from Cargolux to the Henan Cargo Airline. Additionally, ALPL and LCGB have no doubt that growth must also be generated at Cargolux in order to permanently secure the company’s existence as well as the jobs in Luxembourg.

Minister Bausch assured that due to structural and personnel changes in the HNCA shareholder, no profound changes could be expected for the fleet size before the end of 2019.

It was underlined by your ALPL and LCGB representatives, that urgent solutions must be found and that it is important to send a clear message to the staff at Cargolux. Regular meetings with employee representatives and making transparent important information is indispensable in order to avoid wild speculations and uncertainties.

After we looked at the CODs in the last issue of our series „Know your CWA“, in this issue we take a closer look at the „Floating Off- Days“ or in short FODs.

Below you find the article as published in the current CWA. Further below we provide some comments and explanations for this article.

These rules are applicable for all pilots except for the allocation and entitlement of RBO. The entitlement of RBO for pilots employed at or after 01 December 2015 is regulated differently and was explained in the issue “Off Days – General”.

Like always it is the obligation of the company to follow these rules and a pilot is entitled to a roster reflecting these rules. However, as a pilot you should know what these rules are. If a pilot notices a none compliance with the CWA it is his right that his roster will be changed to be fully compliant with the CWA.

37.1.3. FODays
a) Once the 3 FODays have been published, they can only be changed as follows:
 
i)   They can be moved within the initially scheduled Roster Period as a block, provided that the Pilot receives a minimum of 24 hours notice of the planned change when at Home Base. When the Pilot is away from Home Base, a minimum notification time is not required. 
ii)  If the number of FODays is reduced, or if a Pilot´s ground Duty is not completed by 22:00 local before the 1st FODay, or if the Pilot´s Duty ends whether operating, positioning or dead-heading – 00:01 or later on the day before the first planned FODay, in which cases the Pilot is compensated as follows:

1) For each FODay and/or the 24RBO, a one-for-one day is attached to the CODays of  the following unpublished Roster, carrying the same value as a CODay.
2) In case the entire block of FODays and the 24RBO will be moved into the next unpublished Roster, the Pilot is credited, in addition to 1), with 8 Duty Hours (not counting to the maximum Duty Hours limitation).

b) If the FODays and a block of vacation days are scheduled back to back, only one 24RBO is scheduled preceding this combined block of OFF and vacation days.

c) As of January 01 2017 the Company will introduce a system to immobilize the FODs. Details of this system will be worked out by the JCSC based on following principles:
i) Immobilizing FODays during the roster periods 11 through 13 inclusive is not permitted.
ii) 5 instances per full calendar year. 
iii) FODays that have been immobilized have the same value as CODays. 
iv) The RBOs, as applicable, are not affected by the FOD immobilization and shall be handled as per the general rules applicable to Rest Before Off as set out in the CWA.
v) Not more than 50% of either BC or FO can be on immobilized FOD in any given roster.

Below you will find some comments and explanations regarding Art. 37.1.3.

• Art. 37.1.3. a) i) and ii) permits the company to change FOD any time after they have been published. Changes are permitted observing the following limitations:
  1. FOD can be only moved as a block within the initially scheduled roster period.
  2. It is not possible to move individual FOD away from this block.

• As per Art. 37.1.1. h) a FOD may be planned to start on the day after a ground duty, such as simulator or ground school, if this ground duty is scheduled to finish not later than 22.00 local time. If this ground duty finishes after 22.00 local time, the pilot is entitled to select compensation as described below.

• Art 37.1.3 a) ii) gives the company the opportunity to extend a pilot’s duty into the RBO before the FOD. Paragraph a) ii) of this article states: „…if the Pilot Duty ends – whether operating, positioning or dead-heading – 00:01 or later on the day before the first planned FODay, then the Pilot is entitled to select compensation.“ The „day before the first planned FODay“ is the RBO. Per definition the RBO is not a FOD. If a pilot’s duty is extended into the RBO he is entitled to compensation for this.

Important: According to B1-37.1.1., the RBO can be reduced from 24 hours to 18 hours without receiving any compensation in the event of a delay.

In other words: 
1. In case of a delay, compensation according to Art. 37.1.2 e) is only applicable if the pilot´s duty ends at 06.01h local time or later.

2. In case of a reschedule, e.g. roster change with different return flight, the pilot is entitled to select compensation if the duty ends already at 00.01 h local time or later on the day before the first planned COD.

The following options exists for the company to compensate the pilot:

1. Receive 1 Off-Day for every FOD and the RBO to be scheduled within the next unpublished roster period, attached to the 6 COD block for that roster period. These “owed FOD” will then have the same value as COD, meaning they will be treated like COD in the roster period they will be moved to and all rules stipulated in CWA Art. 37.1.2. for COD are applicable to these “owed FOD”.

2. If the entire block of FOD including the RBO is moved into the next unpublished roster period the pilot shall receive additionally 8 Duty Hours in the roster period the FOD were removed from.

• Art. 37.1.3. c) governs in principle the immobilization of FOD. As of January 2017, 5 times per year between and including Roster Periods 1 and 10, blocks of FFOD will be allocated to each pilot. FFOD have the same value as COD and the same rules according to CWA 37.1.2. are applicable. The details of the system are to be worked out by the JCSC (Joint Crew Scheduling Committee) and the agreement will be published, once signed.

• Please note that the CWA does not foresee a financial compensation for FOD like for COD as stipulated in Art. 37.1.2. e) iii).

• At Home Base the pilot is entitled to 24 hours notice of such a change. While away from Home Base there is no minimum notice required.

Please follow this link to download your copy of the CWA for your perusal on the company provided iPad or any other computer for future reference.

If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact us at cvboard@alpl.lu for clarification.

All parts of this series can be found here in the Publications section under Cargolux Board.

After we looked at the general rules covering Off- Days in the last issue of our series “Know your CWA”, in this issue we take a closer look at “Consecutive Off- Days” or in short CODs.

Below you find the article as published in the current CWA. Further below we provide some comments and explanations for this article.

These rules are applicable for all pilots except for the allocation and entitlement of RBO. The entitlement of RBO for pilots employed at or after 01 December 2015 is regulated differently and was explained in our last issue “Off Days – General”.

Like always it is the obligation of the company to follow these rules and a pilot is entitled to a roster reflecting these rules. However as a pilot you should know what these rules are. If a pilot notices a none compliance with the CWA it is his right that his roster will be changed to be fully compliant with the CWA.

37.1.2. CODays

a)Under exceptional circumstances (not more than 2 occurrences per calendar year), up to 2 days of the 6 or more CODays can be scheduled to overlap into the next Roster Period. If the COD’s are overlapping into the next Roster Period, it must be clearly identified on both Rosters.

b)Once a block of 6 or more CODays have been published, they can not be altered without the consent of the Pilot concerned.

c)A Pilot can request:
i)  To have the CODays starting on a specific date via the PBS.
ii)  Three times per year the CODays to be scheduled “back to back” in
2 consecutive Roster Periods.
iii) CODays to encompass specific dates via the PBS.

d)If the CODays and a block of vacation days are scheduled back to back, regardless if requested by the Pilot or not, one 24RBO is scheduled preceding this combined block of off and vacation days.

e)If a Pilot’s ground Duty is not completed by 22:00 local before the 1st CODay, or if the Pilot Duty ends – whether operating, positioning or dead-heading – 00:01 or later on the day before the first planned CODay, then the Pilot is entitled to select compensation from the following 3 alternatives:

i)   Move the CODays as a block to accommodate the operational delay, including the 24RBO.
ii) The block of CODays may be shortened to accommodate the late arrival at Home Base by receiving compensation at the rate of 2 Off-Days for every CODay and 24RBOday within the next unpublished Roster Period, attached to the 6 CODays block for that Period.
iii) The block of CODays may be shortened to accommodate the late arrival at Home Base receiving compensation by the payment of Off-Days overtime according to the following formula:
(Basic salary divided by 173) plus 50% supplement with not less than 8 hours counted per missing Off – Day. In this case, duty hours worked in CODays are not added to the total Roster Period credit hours.

Below you will find some comments and explanations regarding Art. 37.1.2.

• Maximum twice per calendar year, up to 2 days of the COD can be scheduled to overlap into the next roster period. This must be clearly identified on both Rosters. This is done by the crew scheduling department by adding a Memo to the pilot’s roster, which is visible in AIMS eCrew.

• Once COD have been published these COD cannot be altered without the consent of the Pilot. Published in this respect means that the roster has to be sent out by the crew scheduling departement every 4 weeks, two weeks before this roster period commences, as defined in CWA B1-37.3.

• A pilot may decline a request to operate into one or more of the COD. The pilot is entitled that his roster is in compliance with the CWA at all times. It is important to understand that the RBO is by definition not a COD and that it is possible for the company to extend a Duty so it ends on the RBO.

• As per Article 37.1.1. h) a COD may be planned to start on the day after a ground duty, such as simulator or ground school, if this ground duty is scheduled to finish not later than 22.00 local time. If this ground duty finishes after 22.00 local time, the pilot is entitled to select compensation as described below.

• Article 37.1.2. e) gives the company the opportunity that you operate into the RBO before the COD. Paragraph e) of this article states “…if the Pilot Duty ends – whether operating, positioning or dead-heading – 00:01 or later on the day before the first planned CODay, then the Pilot is entitled to select compensation.“  The „day before the first planned CODay“ is the RBO. Per definition the RBO is not a COD and therefore it is possible for the company to have a pilot’s duty, be it operating or positioning, extended into the RBO, but only into the RBO. If a pilot is on duty on the RBO he is entitled to compensation as per Art. 37.1.2. e).

Important: According to B1-37.1.1., the RBO can be reduced from 24 hours to 18 hours without receiving any compensation in the event of a delay.

In other words:

1. In case of a delay, compensation according to Art. 37.1.2 e) is only applicable if the pilot´s duty ends at 06.01h local time or later.

2. In case of a reschedule, e.g. roster change with different return flight, the pilot is entitled to select compensation if the duty ends already at 00.01 h local time or later on the day before the first planned COD.

• A pilot does not have to accept any duty extending into one of the COD. A pilot may insist that his roster is changed and that he is free of all duties at Home Base before the COD commences, which is as per CWA Art. 37.1.1. a) at 00.01h local time of the first COD. It is the obligation of the company to amend a pilot’s roster accordingly, which may include positioning the pilot home.

• As mentioned above, a pilot is entitled to select compensation as per Art. 37.1.2 e).

Please refer to CWA B1-36.2 Specification of Beginning and End of Duty times for the correct calculation of duty times.

It is only the pilot who decides how he wants to be compensated. The pilot may select between the following options:

1. Move COD, including the RBO, as a block.

2. Receive 2 Off-Days for every COD and the RBO to be scheduled within the next unpublished roster period, attached to the 6 COD block for that roster period. These “owed COD” keep the same value, meaning they remain COD and cannot be moved without the consent of the pilot.

3. Payment of Off-Days overtime as defined in Art. 37.1.2 e) iii)

Example A:
Below is the roster of a pilot, showing that he was planned to return for his COD on 17 March:

The flight back from IAH was then delayed and he now arrives back on 18 March, which is the RBO. As explained it is possible for the company to extend a Duty into the RBO. His duty ends at 06.01h local time.

The pilot can now choose the compensation:

If he decides that his COD including the RBO would be moved as per Art. 37.1.2. e) i), his roster would look like this in AIMS eCrew:

If he elects to receive compensation of the missing RBO on 18 March by receiving 2 Off- Days for the RBO as defined in Art. 37.1.2. e) ii); or payment as defined in Art. 37.1.2. e) iii), his roster would look like this in AIMS eCrew:

Example B:
Due to several roster changes the return flights to LUX for 2 pilots are now completely different from what they originally have been scheduled when they left LUX.

Pilot A now only positions from GYD to LUX while Pilot B operates the same flight. Both pilots have their COD scheduled to start after this flight, with the RBO scheduled on the day after they arrive back in LUX.

The flight from GYD to LUX arrives at 23.45h local time.
 The duty of Pilot A ends at Block On, at 23.45 local time, as his duty consisted solely of positioning. His duty does not extend into his RBO and he is not entitled to compensation as per Art. 37.1.2. e).

The duty of Pilot B ends 30 minutes after Block On at 00.15h local time. His duty does extend into his RBO and he is entitled to compensation as per Art. 37.1.2. e).

Please follow this link to download your copy of the CWA for your perusal on the company provided iPad or any other computer for future reference.

If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact us at cvboard@alpl.lu for clarification.

All parts of this series can be found here in the Publications section under Cargolux Board.

Please read the attached letter we sent to the CEO on 14 August. The ALPL remains alert and concerned about continued efforts to recruit and possibly train Direct Entry Captains here at Cargolux for Henan Cargo Airlines (JVA). Already one year ago we first saw such an attempt where a pilot with command experience only on B737 was offered command training at Cargolux‘ earmarked to operate at the JVA.

This resulted in a meeting late last year where management was informed this pilot would not qualify to operate as a Captain in China on the B747 as he had no experience on a weight class similar to the B747. In fact, for this pilot to meet the Chinese commander requirements would have taken close to four years operating in Cargolux.

As no fault of his own, we believe Cargolux management misinformed this pilot and created an unnecessary and embarrassing situation. A compromise was found to complete his B747 type-rating and Captain training, but thereafter only operate from the right seat as a First Officer until his one year contract would expire. This pilot is no longer part of the pilot group at Cargolux.

Since those discussions in November last year, management appears to ignore our voiced concerns by allowing the joint venture team to continue recruitment efforts for pilots, even promising some of them Direct Entry Captain training and initial operating experience (IOE) here at Cargolux before heading to China.

According to the Chinese Pilots Association (ChALPA), our IFALPA colleagues, the legal requirements of flight experience, training and hours on weight-class category aircraft to be eligible for commander training at Henan Cargo are actually fulfilled by most of our Cargolux Senior First Officers today. Disappointingly, management is not talking with us about how to facilitate a possible career path opportunity for our First Officers and Captains which could include secondment to Henan Cargo Airlines.

We recall hearing promises by management about continued growth of Cargolux in Luxembourg, yet what can be seen is Cargolux Italia still operating Cargolux SA flights and employing roughly 100 pilots not paying taxes in Luxembourg. This does impact the career paths of crews which have been loyal to Cargolux for more than 12 years!

Management needs to initiate constructive dialogue!

Cargolux Italia, Henan Cargo and not enough pilots. Whatever else is coming up on the radar will push-up against the already very (over)stressed patience of the Cargolux pilot community. 

In this issue of our series “Know your CWA” we take a closer look at “Off-Days”, starting with Art. B1-37.1.1., which provides general rules for Off-Days. We will expand on the COD and FOD in the next issues.

Below you find the article as published in the current CWA. Further below we provide some comments and explanations for this article.

In general, these rules are applicable for all pilots except for the allocation and entitlement of RBO. The entitlement of RBO for pilots employed at or after 01 December 2015 is regulated differently and explained in the text below.

Like always it is the obligation of the company to follow these rules and a pilot is entitled to a roster reflecting these rules. If a pilot notices a none compliance with the CWA it is their right that his roster will be changed to be fully compliant with the CWA.

B1-37.1. Off-Day Scheme
B1-37.1.1. General
a) An Off-Day is defined as a period of 24 hours free of all Duties commencing at 00:01 local time.

b) All Off-Days will be fixed at Home Base, if not agreed otherwise by the individual Pilot and Company.

c)Each Pilot is entitled to 9 Off-Days at Home Base per 28 days Roster Period. Off- Days will be allotted to each Pilot in 2 blocks and will be clearly identified on the published Rosters as:
i) 6 Consecutive OFF-Days (CODays)
ii) 3 Consecutive Floating OFF Days (FODays)

d) Each block of Off-Days (CODays and FODays) will be preceded by a period of 24 hours Rest Before Off day (24RBO). The rest time guaranteed before a block of Off-Days is 24 hours.
 
* Note: There are some differences for pilots employed after 01 December 2015, which are mentioned in CWA B3-35.2.

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B3-35.2 OFF days
OFF days and RBO will be planned the same as pilots starting before December 01 2015, except for the first 5 years of a contract.
 
Following rules apply for the first 5 years:
• Year 1: No RBO before FOD and COD
• Year 2: No RBO before FOD and COD
• Year 3: No RBO before COD, 24/18 hours RBO before FOD
• Year 4: 12 hours RBO before COD, 24/18 hours RBO before FOD
• Year 5: same system as pilots starting before December 01 2015

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In the event of a delay, the 24 hours rest can be reduced to 18 hours and no compensation will be given for the reduced rest.

e) If a block of 6 or more CODays and a block of 3 FODays are scheduled back to back, only one 24RBO is scheduled preceding the total block of Off-Days. If during the daily operation phase of a Roster, the FODays are rescheduled away from the block of CODays, a 24RBO is scheduled preceding the block of CODays and 3 FODays.

f) No Duties consisting solely of ground training will be scheduled between:
i) two Off-Day blocks
ii) an Off-Day block and a vacation block

g) No period in excess of 24 consecutive calendar duty days will be scheduled between 2 blocks of OFF days, or a block of OFF days and a block of vacation days.

h) A block of CODays and/or a block of FODays can be planned to start on the day following a ground Duty planned at Home Base provided that this ground Duty is planned to finish no later than 22:00 local time. In this case, the 24RBO does not apply, but shall be compensated by adding an additional day to the FODays within the next unpublished Roster.

Below you will find some comments and explanations regarding Art. B1-37.1.1. However, most of this article should be self-explanatory.

Please take particularly note of the definition of the Rest Before Off- Day (RBO) below.

a) This paragraph defines the term Off- Day as free off all duties commencing at 00.01 local time.

b) Off- Days can only be scheduled at Home Base, which is defined in CWA Part III as “For all Employees at the Company and for the Company itself: Luxembourg Airport.” However a Pilot could agree with the Company that his Off-Days would be scheduled at a different location. This would require mutual consent.

c) Stipulates that per 28 day Roster Period 9 Off- Days have to be scheduled. The Off- Days will be allocated in 2 blocks, 6 as COD and 3 as FOD. Both COD and FOD blocks consist of consecutive blocks of Off- Days.

The text of this paragraph does not prevent that both Off- Day blocks, FOD and COD, are scheduled back-to-back, meaning as one block of consecutive Off- Days. However even if scheduled as a block FOD remain FOD and COD remain COD, meaning that FOD could still be rescheduled without the consent of the pilot. We will expand on FOD and COD in the next issue in more detail.

d) This paragraph defines that before each Off- Day block one RBO needs to be scheduled.

Please note, that per definition a RBO is not an Off- Day and that you may be scheduled to operate into the RBO. However, the RBO will be compensated, if a duty extends into the RBO. We will expand on this in the next issue of this series.

*Note: The following is applicable for pilots employed at or after 01 December 2015.

During the first 5 years, a spool up of RBO as mentioned below is foreseen:
• Year 1: No RBO before FOD and COD
• Year 2: No RBO before FOD and COD
• Year 3: No RBO before COD, 24/18 hours RBO before FOD
• Year 4: 12 hours RBO before COD, 24/18 hours RBO before FOD
• Year 5: same system as pilots starting before 01 December 2015

e) Whenever the blocks of COD and FOD are scheduled back to back, meaning as one consecutive block of Off- Days, the Pilot is only entitled to one RBO before this consecutive block of FOD and COD.

If COD and FOD have been scheduled back to back and if the FOD block is rescheduled away from the COD block, the Pilot is entitled to one RBO before each Off- Day block.

f) This paragraph prevents, that ground training events, e.g. simulator or ground school, are scheduled between two Off- Day blocks or between a block of vacation days and an Off- Day block.

g)  This limits the number of consecutive calendar days between Off- Day blocks or between an Off- Day block and a block of vacation days to a maximum of 24 days. It is the obligation of the company that this is observed and a pilot is entitled that his roster is changed accordingly, if more than 24 calendar duty days are scheduled.

h) If before COD or FOD a ground Duty, e.g. simulator or ground school, at Home Base, which is per definition Luxembourg, finishes latest at 22.00 local time, the FOD and COD may start at 00.01 of the next following day. In this case a RBO does not have to be scheduled between the ground Duty and the first COD or FOD. However, the RBO will have to be added to the next unpublished roster period.

Example A:
Ground duty finishes latest at 22.00 local time  –  the RBO is not required before the Off- Day block:

Roster is indicated in UTC.

Example B:
Ground duty finishes after 22.00 local time  –  the RBO is required before the Off- Day block:

Roster is indicated in UTC.

Please follow this link to download your copy of the CWA for your perusal on the company provided iPad or any other computer for future reference.

If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact us at cvboard@alpl.lu for clarification.

All parts of this series can be found here in the Publications section under Cargolux Board.