3.03.23 – ***CORRECTION*** APFA MIA Base Brief – April 2023 Staffing And Allocations

Friday, March 3, 2023

April 2023 Staffing and Allocations
***CORRECTION BELOW in ODANs***

The headcount for April is 3,375. Last month we were at 3,325, and last April 2,978. The projected Reserve percentage is forecasted to be at 17.8%, up slightly from last month. The April plan calls for 568 Reserve heads, as compared to 527 last month. As the headcount increases, so does the number of Reserves needed. The sick volume is way down, so the numbers should be lower, and that will be addressed on the allocations call. Reserve coverage will be heavier around Easter weekend. Easter Sunday is on April 9th.

The first class of new hires this year had their base indoctrination on February 27th. We received 30 new hires out of that class. In total, we will be receiving 188 new hires from the first five classes. This will obviously have an impact on the seniority of Reserve. As we have cautioned in earlier communications, your seniority determines whether or not you will be on Reserve. If you are Lineholder status for April, which is normally your Reserve rotation, you would have to toggle onto Reserve in the LRD tool to maintain that rotation. Remember, if you have more than three (3) days of vacation and toggle onto Reserve, it will not count towards satisfying your Reserve obligation.

The continual lack of qualified speakers on Reserve has been addressed with the Company. I advised the Company that we have a disproportionate amount of Spanish Speakers on Reserve compared to a large amount of non-speakers. Senior Spanish qualified Reserve Flight Attendants are denied bids and forced into sequences they did not bid. This creates not only a hardship, but a seniority violation as well. This is a problem that is only going to get worse if the Company does not have a Spanish speaker requirement when hiring. The Company should also be encouraging those in training who are proficient in Spanish to qualify in that language. They should NOT discourage anyone from qualifying in a language. Additionally, we have asked the Company to separate NIPD and Domestic to the extent possible when constructing sequences. I can assure you that this issue has our full attention, and was addressed at length on today’s allocation call.

The Company was able to build the late GRU daily 777-200 departure as a Rocket with a 13.10 layover. Per the JCBA, layover rest on a Rocket can be reduced to 10 hours from release to report. We are still required to have eight hours behind the door. If transportation issues cause the rest to go below eight, tracking needs to be notified so the rest can be adjusted accordingly. The earlier daily GRU departure will operate on the 777-300 with a 38.25-hour layover.

LHR will have one daily round trip operating on the 777-300. MAD, BCN, EZE, and GIG will all operate daily on the 787-8.

Wide-body flying other than IPD will be extremely limited for April, and the same goes for the entire system, as the wide-body flying has been dedicated to IPD destinations. This is a trend that will continue through the summer. We can expect some Domestic wide-body flying to return in early fall as the peak European season comes to a close in the Northeast.

The winter schedule changes happen from the last week of October through December. We can expect CDG and MVD returning along with increased frequencies in other IPD markets, such as GRU and LHR.

JFK will operate as a daily 1/1 on the 777-200 with a later arrival. HAV and CLT will operate daily turns on the 777-200. The CLT turn has a four-hour sit which we addressed but were not able to mitigate the sit time. The LAX transcon will be flown on the Airbus A321 as there is no planned wide-body service in that market for April.

Narrow-body Turns:

• SJU, SJO, PUJ, STT, SKB, POS, SXM, UVF, CTG, GND, SXM, AUA, HAV, SCU, CMW, PEI, PAP, MID, PTY, DCA, PHL, DEN, LAS, PHX, YYZ, ATL, MCO

ODANs:

• ATL, ORF, RIC, MCO, BNA, LAX, JAX, MSY, TPA, RDU

Total block hours for April is 203,596

• MIA: 189,867
• ATL: 1,992
• FLL: 6,126
• PBI: 3,070
• MCO: 2,541

In Solidarity,

Randy Trautman
APFA MIA Base President
[email protected]

Heidi Morgan
APFA MIA Base Vice President
[email protected]