AUGUST 2012

General

The “right gauging” of the airline continues, and has made its way to the wide
body fleets.
We continue to adjust the sit times in an attempt ensure safety, and maintain
productivity. The problem is much like the child’s game “Whack a Mole.” If we
squeeze the sit times down, then something else pops up. This something else
might be total sit time, loss of productivity, etc. In other words, more time in the
hotel, or more time in the food court (but more days at home).
Projections:

NOTE: Much of what you see here is based on projections from Network Planning.

Especially when making bidding decisions, keep firmly in mind that EVERYTHING is in
a state of flux right now. The only constant is change, or as we call it on the PC, the
“New Normal!”
We still expect a system bid in the August time frame. ORD, DEN, and EWR
will see increases in B737 crews, while CLE will be allowed to shrink without
involuntary displacements.

IAH B756 will probably keep EZE and GRU through Dec.
IAH is slated to lose all of the B764 departures in the near future, perhaps by the
end of this year. For now, expect that IAH B756 pilots will continue to be
qualified on the B764. In other words, with the stroke of a pen, Network Planning
could bring them back. In related moves, expect to see increased B757 flying in
IAH, decreased B757 flying in EWR, increased FOs (IROs) in EWR, and reduced
FOs (IROs) in IAH.
In the near term, IAH B756 crews will probably see some MUC flying; however,
this will mostly be done from the EWR base.

L-UAL B763s will take over much of the deep SA flying. Expect a IAH base in
Sept with about 70 crews.

Between the CBA issues, ISL issues, and equipment differences, it is possible that
L-CAL B756 bases will NOT mix with L-UAL B756 bases anytime in the
immediate future. Once we have a CBA and ISL, this might not preclude pilots
from either subsidiary bidding onto either fleet, it would simply mean separate
BES for each. At this point, nothing is certain.

B787
Mid-sept delivery
Initial training of B777 Captains (28) and FOs (34)
Later training of Captains and FOs from other fleets
There will be a couple of weeks that it will be down for MX
training
Validations and proving runs will follow.
Domestic until sometime in the first quarter, hub to hub.
Total of 6 by end of first quarter
Total of 7 by the end of the third quarter
Expect to see DEN->NRT, IAH-LAX-NRT-LAX-IAH, and maybe
a European Destination on a temporary basis.

B777
IAH will probably drop from 4 departures a day to 3. This is still under
review, and either way, we don’t expect any involuntary displacements.
DEN and ORD
In September, expect to see 25 Captains and 25 FOs advanced to each
base most of these from IAH base.

PBS
As you already know, thanks to your PBS Committee and their work with
the company, the problem of double pumping in PBS was restricted in the
domestic B737 bases beginning in August. The PBS Committee continues
to work with the company to develop an intelligent waive statement so
that this feature can migrate to other fleets. As with many things in
computers, the more “intelligent” the waive statement, the more difficult
to use, the easier for the users (pilots) to misapply, and the more difficult
to develop and support.

RED-EYE Flying
As everyone knows, this Summer we saw a dramatic increase in B737 ANF (All
Night Flying, the new term for red-eye). As the table shows below, with the end
of the Summer schedule, the ANFs are returning to a more normal level.
However, we should probably expect a similar ramp up next Summer.