O came to speak at recurrent the other day, so here's some of the notes-

1. B777 rates not in contract and we'll have to have them added in the contract for the bids to come out. (or they'll probably just be WB pay). It will be a typical crew of 4 possibly 5 for the ULH 17hr flight. He talked about the j/s rest area - sounds pretty nice - business class reclining seats - separate bunks, etc..

2. 2+ Airbus will go to Europe for more SIBA. B727 SIBA in SA.

3. 2-3 month delay in B757 program - talked about the door.

4. 24 in the pool, about 15 said yes to going to FDA. 4000+ qualified applicants with 500 being very qualified. Not opening the Application window- especially with overmanning situation.

5. 28 Over-60 will not train on this last bid as they don't have enough time left before 65. They will get passover. Nothing in the works as far as early out buyouts to get guys to retire. Bean-counters looked and it was close to a break even amount compared to new-hire costs.

6. About 200 overmanned before Age 60, then add 150 retreads that could come back to the front. No talk of furlough.

7. Company and Union talking about more FDA enhancements - still 25-30 open F/O seats. Talked a bit why the CDG won't open.

8. Cannot STV unless the base is properly manned. Have to get the F/O seats filled before the company can do that.

9. A little talk of the excess bids, DC10/B727 per PC's letter. Didn't think that A300 would excess.



Thats all I can remember. Just passing on the info. I understand he may find out things a couple mins before we do (ie CDG not happening).

 

What reasons did O give for the CDG FDA cnx?

 

By the way, I have recurrent next week. Will update.....

 

Primarily b/c the delay in the B757, having guys with bids and no plane to train into.
He did say the company was going to help out those who had already paid some deposits to schools/houses. just didn't say how much...



I kinda of wonder if the company is hoping some of the CDG F/O's who will be back to the boeing panel will bid HGK.. It would solve so of the manning problem, no need to hire new, they've already mentally"committed" to moving overseas. Just my .02

 

It will be interesting to see what the newest update will be next week.

 

i get a "real" update next week...will update what i can

 

Didn't DW "assure" us that the 380 rates would apply??????? I guess we were led down the rosy path again.

 

I had recurrent this week as well. O's primary point with the 777 pay was that there was nothing in the contract for its pay scale, so the implication was it needs to be negotiated. Of course he was very noncommital and didn't say if negotiations were indeed taking place...

 

The MEC went into "cone of silence" mode to discuss our negotiating strategy so I guess we think we are in negotiations. Think the super secret contract 2004 after action report includes how much we gave up for A380 rates?

 

IMHO, the A380 rates that we negotiated at the last minute are woefully inadequate. For an airplane that can carry DOUBLE what a MD-11 can carry, why should we have settled for 6.5% more (approx $17/hour in the left seat) than the MD-11 CAP rate!!!!! I was blown away that we would have settled for anything less than $350+/hour.

Remember that Delta (pre-2001) was paying $325/hour for the left seat in the 777, for hauling PEOPLE!!! Keep in mind the revenue per flight that we can generate with the 777 and you can begin to see that, even at $325/hour, the crew cost won't even be a pimple on the total cost to move that much freight/revenue for the company. I remember in my new hire indoc, some suits bragged that we easily generate 10 times or more the revenue, per leg, than the pax carriers do.

Pay no attention to the abysmal 380 rates - They are so low they don't even matter.

Don't sell yourself short on the 777 payrates!!!