In other news:

 

And in other news.....

Air France Plans Jobs Freeze, Deeper Capacity Cuts to Defend Profitability

By Laurence Frost

Air France-KLM (AF) Group, Europe's largest airline, declined as much as 7.5 percent in Paris trading after saying it will deepen capacity cuts and is discussing a hiring freeze with unions to defend earnings goals.

Chief Executive Officer Pierre-Henri Gourgeon will “seek a consensus to reduce structural costs in a context of economic uncertainty,” Jean-Charles Trehan, a spokesman for the Paris- based airline, said today. A target for a positive operating profit still stands, he said.

Air France, which had a loss of 145 million-euro ($205 million) in the quarter ended June 30, will post a full-year operating profit of 25 million euros, according to the average of eight analyst estimates. The company, which is switching its accounting to the calendar year, earned 122 million euros in the 12 months to March 31, its first profit in three years.

“The outlook for all major airlines is deteriorating, especially in crucial premium traffic, but the starting point is clearly weaker for Air France,” said Andrew Lobbenberg, a London-based analyst at RBS. “While it's incumbent on all of them to take some action, it's even more important for Air France to manage their capacity down and attack their cost base,” he said.

Air France's 2011 guidance and analyst forecasts compare with average full-year operating profit estimates of 1.09 billion euros for Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA) and 644 million euros for International Consolidated Airlines Group SA, formed from the merger of British Airways and Iberia.

Share Performance

Air France fell as much as 48 cents to 5.92 euros, the biggest intraday drop since Aug. 18, and was down 5.8 percent at 5:04 p.m. in Paris. The stock has plunged 56 percent this year, the worst performance on the Bloomberg EMEA Airlines Index.

High fuel prices and a decline in business and consumer confidence will clip growth and lead to a weaker end to the year for an airline industry in which earnings have already been squeezed after unrest in the Middle East and an earthquake in Japan, the International Air Transport Association said Sept 1.

Air France will drop more capacity for the coming winter season and next summer, Trehan said. The group had already trimmed planned winter seating growth to 2.7 percent from 5.1 percent in July, two months after announcing a 10 percent seat reduction for its joint venture with Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL)

Productivity

Air France also said in July it would achieve 500 million euros in savings this year from improvements in productivity and procurement, an increase on the 470 million euros first pledged.

Trehan declined to elaborate on the additional cuts being presented to unions today. A union representative who declined to be indentified confirmed the planned hiring freeze and said that no job reductions are planned.

IATA says a 0.4 percent decline in July freight traffic indicates the likely trend for passenger demand, which increased 5.9 percent for the month, since cargo volumes generally fall first. The last slump and financial crisis cost airlines about two years of growth, the organization says.

 

Ha ha. The onion.

I like this editorial: Beginning today, we must all do more when it comes to our brief and panicked thoughts about climate change.


My favorite was the headline that Tom Coughlin was retiring from his family to spend more time with his team. And the one about how dolphins had grown thumbs and the scientist were saying we were all screwed.But they used the f word. Cuss words are funny. I dot use them in real life, I use them here though!

 

How did that bow wave pay system work again?

 

Not sure if this is a rhetorical question or not, so I'll answer it anyway.

I believe that any hours you earned in a month where you were over the monthly cap carried over into the next month. Of course this was minus the hours you decided to put in the bank. There was a cap on the hours per month you could deposit in the bank (I think it was 5 hours a month then but am not positive) as well as the 60 hour bank cap there is now.

Denny

 

"Back in the day..." everything revolved around 75 hours per month, for pay. You didn't get paid more, if you flew more, you got a bow wave.

The bid sheet lines were built 68 to 75hrs. and reserve was only 70. If, due to re-routes, over-fly, holding, what ever, you ended up flying say, 80 hours in a month, the "extra" 5 hours was called your "Bow Wave" and pushed into the next month...or you could put the 5 hours into your Bank, to be withdrawn in a "short" month, to bring you up to 75.

Say next month your line was only 71 hours, well, if you had 4 hours of bow wave, you would get your 75 hours pay. But if you got a 75 hour line and over-flew it to say, 85, well, now your bow wave into the next month would be the 5 from last month, plus the extra 10 in this month, for a 15 hour bow wave going into the 3rd month.

In no case would you be paid 85 hours, (like today) anything on top of 75 was either going into your bank or into your bow wave. If over a few months, you accumulated say, 20 hours in your BW, you could drop a 20 hour trip and use your bow wave to cover it, to get paid 75. If you were constantly getting called out (inverse assignements) to fly over 75 hours, you didn't get paid extra, you got a bigger bow wave.

When I was hired in Sept. of 1985, the company was so short of pilots, there were many 727 Engineers with 200+ hour bow waves, because the company "froze" their bow waves, ie. would not let them drop a whole month (or even one trip) to use up their bow waves.

After a 4 day trip, guys were getting re-routes in the jetway as they tried to go home, from the gate agents (no cell phones back then), so to keep that from happening, a lot of Engineers would run off the plane via the aft airstairs, across the ramp, to the parking lot.

Finally, DALPA said, "Enough, you MUST HIRE pilots!" and they did. My first 6 months, as one of the most junior engineers in MIA, I flew some of the best lines in the bid package, because they finally had to allow guys to use up their 200hr. bow waves. So guys were dropping their entire 75 hour lines, and I, being the junior guy, got assigned these lines!

 

Thanks Denny and timbo!

 

Fellas,

I've got a bud who is on reserve for September. He got called out for a greenslip last week, but within a few hours scheduling called back and canceled his trip because they couldn't find an FO. They told him they would give him suit up pay.

Question (s):

Does this suit up pay still go on top of his reserve guarantee?

Does he still get his next reserve day off? (Ala rolling thunder style.)

 

You'll never get "a big check" for your bank, but if you are smart, you'll fill up your bank to the 60hr. max while you are a F/O, then bid Capt. and take it out, at Capt. rates. The Bow Wave simply allowed you to drop future flying and cover it with the bow wave. You got paid 75 per month, no more.

We rarely worked more than 12 days a month, (3 x 4 day trips or 4 x 3 days) that's about all it took to get to 75, and there was zero incentive to go over that, as you were not going to get paid more, just a bow wave or bank. Now we have guys trying to fly 85-90, how many jobs do you think that has cost? That's one of the chief contributors to Stagnation today. You want more Stagnation? Just keep parking trips to get up to 95-110 hours. For every 4 guys in your category who pick up an extra 20, that's one less pilot needed in category, or a 20% manning reduction.

 

I believe no and no. The only way he will see that money (all 2 hrs of it) is if he happens to break min guarantee.

Had it happen to me. Went out the airport and sat around for about 4 hrs before they scrubbed the flight. I didn't get one red cent for all of that trouble because I didn't fly more than 70 hrs that month. Or I guess, if I had flown past 68 I would've started getting some of it.