Originally Posted by
gloopy
Not sure I like the sound of that. I had heard this AE was supposed to be the beginning phase of top heavy fat staffing for widebodies, but the proposed rules would likely do nothing but decrease widebody relief FO postions (no, not all, but some) while barely, if at all, increasing narrowbody positions...more so at regulation redline regionals and far, far less at legacies with at least some work rules in their PWA's which would already comply with many or even most of the new proposals.
Maybe the ATA is getting some feedback from their lobbyist henchmen that the F&DT regs are going to be more management friendly than we seem to think they will be.
The new rules would actually increase the FO's positions on the 7ER. Yes you can fly more hours before you have to carry the relief FO but the duty day limits if you are not acclimated are to short to allow that. Most of the current two man trips out of JFK will have to go to 3 pilots. The only way the company could avoid it would be to make them 4 day trips instead of 3. This might meet the acclimatization requirement but the increase in 1 for 3.5 credit would probably keep the company from going that route.
Regardless however I don't think this has anything to do with the new rest rules. This bid is to cover flying this summer long before the new rest rules will go into effect. Its not likely the company will even know what they will end up being by summer.