Netjets had an interesting idea that might work for Atlas...

They had 3 different schedules, and it worked out perfectly, because they had 1/3 of the pilots wanted to work more, 1/3 wanted less, and 1/3 liked it the way it was. They would bid for one of the 3 schedules, and their schedule would last for a year?...or maybe six month, then the schedules were rebid.

Currently, we owe 17 days to the company. Instead, we could have 3 schedules: 19 days, 17 days and 15 days....or we could make it 18/16/14...whatever we could agree to the company with.

19/17/15 would leave the company with the same number of workdays per month from the pilot group.

You bid on if you want the Long, Med or Short schedule, by seniority in the company. You get that schedule for 6 months? 1 year?

Then you bid the lines for your assigned schedule.

If you want to make more, you can work the longer schedule...if you want to be home more, you work the shorter schedule.

At NetJets, it worked out well as (almost) no one felt screwed, and everyone got what they wanted.

What do you think about this 3-tiered schedule???