9.06.25 – APFA DFW Base Brief – October 2025 Staffing and Allocations

October 2025 DFW Staffing and Allocations

Saturday, September 6, 2025

October is the second of our fall shoulder months with reduced flying before we kick into the holiday and winter increased schedules. Year-over-year for the same month we see our line average down 2.7 hours even though block time is up 2.2 percentage points. This translates into some additional flexibility. October 6th sees our first schedule change and another change from the IATA seasonal adjustment occurs on October 26th. As the month progresses you will see aircraft repositioning as the seasonal IPD pull-down continues and wide-body domestic flying will begin to increase, especially after the 26th. Wide-body domestic flying should continue through most of the winter schedule. Additionally, there are a lot of specialty and sporting events that are on the bid sheet producing increased frequencies in some markets and some odd point-to-point flying. Watch your bidding closely.

Reserve is again low with a forecasted number of 1173 or 17.1% which is 114 less than the same month last year. With the total headcount in DFW down 40 people year over year this is a trend we were happy to see applied to our base’s allocations. Moving forward the team does expect an uptick in reserve for November with additional increases in December and January. While we don’t have exact numbers we can remind you of the same period last year. The following are last year’s RSV numbers, and you can expect to see a similar rise occur again this year:

• NOV 2024 – 1243 Reserves
• DEC 2024 – 1540 Reserves
• JAN 2025 – 1512 Reserves

A hub our size requires a larger reserve pool to ensure the operational reliability of our department. This is not based on reserve counts at other bases to cover their originating sequences but rather our own originating sequences, plus the possible disruptions to an out-of-base crew or flights passing through the largest hub.

Flu season is kicking in so taking care of ourselves and keeping our absenteeism lower does give our base leadership ammunition for fighting to keep reserve counts down. So, if you’re sick stay home because passing the germs along means more people out. That translates into negative statistics against the base for future forecasting when it comes to reserve coverage needs.

A short note on ECS hotel functionality. DFW experienced additional IROPS events in the past month and over the Labor Day weekend. We saw an overall downward trend in response time regarding off-schedule hotel assignments—a welcome relief for many of our crews! However, our goal continues to be for all crews to be taken care of as expeditiously as possible, so we look forward to further improvements as ECS functionalities expand and usage becomes more reliable. Remember to use this feature when possible and follow all applicable legalities in your contract.

Below are all the updated charts and figures we supply you with each month. Should you require more insight please reach out to a base rep with your questions.

Important Dates:

• October Contractual Month runs from October 1 – October 31 (31 days)
• Schedule change occurs on October 6^th. IATA Season Change Date is October 26^th. DFW will operate eight banks on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday.

Special Events in October:
3, 5, 10, 13: ABQ – Balloon Fiesta
17, 20: AUS – Formula 1
29, 31:  OAX, QRO, TRC – Día de los Muertos

College Football and NFL games (throughout the month): increased capacity to/from specific markets (see PBS Cover Sheet, viewable through Crew Portal – Departments – Crew Planning – Current Bid Sheets for more details)

PBS Preliminary Manning Plan, DFW – October 2025:

With summer season in the rearview mirror, we settle fully into the fall season. System-wide reserve held steady at 16.5% with DFW also holding at 17.1%. The company opened up unpaid VLOAs again for a projected 176 Flight Attendants at DFW. The line average is anticipated to be near 76.6 hours, same as August.

In Unity,

DFW Allocations Team

Fierce advocates for over 7,300 DFW Flight Attendants