When the Company first announced the “focus at LGW” earlier this year, the management told us that there were two options for the US crew:
1. A temporary furlough until more NO AOC flights were added or
2. Having the US crew “share” the LGW flights with the UK-based crew by becoming dual-qualified on the UK AOC.
Of course, the Union welcomed the second option as it prevented a furlough and provided additional work for US-based crew. Right now, many of you flying for the UK AOC will soon have your NO AOC qualifications expire. According to the regulations, those of you flying for the UK AOC don’t need to be current on the NO AOC; however, it’s the position of the union that all US-based crew should remain current on the NO AOC for several important reasons. Having all US-based crew qualified on the NO AOC is supported by promises from the Company as well as language in our CBA.
In addition to the dual AOC issue, Management has solicited crew’s “interest” in flying ACMI (charter) flights out of Milan, Italy for the winter season. Management has previously stated to the Union that this opportunity will only be available to those currently flying on the NO AOC and that it will be a bidding process, which the AFA insists upon. Furthermore, the Company has asked the union to “not announce anything” to the crew as the ACMI contract has not yet been signed.
In the roster release email on October 13th that was sent to ALL crew on both AOC’s, Management asked all crew members who are “interested” in working the ACMI flights out of Milan to take a survey. This is contradictory to what the Union has been told and what has been communicated to the crew on the Scheduling conference call on October 4th, 2023. Because of this contradictory information, many crew have sent emails to crew planning, OCC, the training department, and our cabin leadership different requests, including asking to be scheduled for NO AOC training so they don’t lose their NO AOC qualification. Most important is that we were told that the ACMI contract has not even been signed, so there is a possibility that the management may once again be providing the crew with promises that might not become reality.
Due to the importance of the two issues mentioned above, the AFA has scheduled a meeting with Management on Thursday, October 19th.At this meeting we are going to insist that Management provide us with concrete decisions on:
1) What is their plan to ensure all US crew are dual qualified,
2) What is being done to ensure existing crew’s NO AOC qualifications don’t expire,
3) Find out if the ACMI contract has been signed, and if it has,
4) Confirm who is eligible to work the ACMI flights,
5) Agree on a bidding process and timeline, and
6) Confirm what the crew working the ACMI flights can expect in regard to anticipated block hours, days off, per diem, security checks, total duration of assignment, etc.
We will keep everyone updated on the outcome. In the meantime if you have information to share or questions to ask please use the proper channels, contact us from your personal email to [email protected] or through our AFA Website under “ Contact us” tab.
