9.09.25 – APFA CLT Base Brief – October 2025 Staffing and Allocations

October 2025 CLT Staffing and Allocations

Tuesday, September 9, 2025

We had our monthly call with the company to take a look at the trips for October. This October will be slightly different from last year as October usually signals the full winter schedule (There is actually no fall or spring schedule, just summer and winter). Last year we saw the usual pulldown in September, but they added a large amount of flying back in October. This summer we did not overload our schedule, and October will have a reasonable amount of flying rather than a large increase like we saw last year. October’s trips looked more reasonable, while there are still some inherent problems with the trips, overall, the construction was reasonable and more of what we would expect for a Winter (Fall) schedule. We saw a more even distribution of departure times, making back-to-back trips more realistic. We saw more one and done on the last day of the trips, taking some heat off the commuters. We still have the reduction in banks on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays and the end of the IPD summer flying. October is a 31-day month, this extra day puts our flying hours at 186,131. Even with the loss of IPD flying for the winter, we have hours added in domestic flying.

Charlotte remains a strong, profitable hub for American, and we do anticipate the company adding hours to our schedule in the coming months and into the spring, not just the anticipated hikes for the upcoming holidays.

Our reserve numbers are down year over year, the cut off will be 08 SEPT 22. The extra day adds a reserve day, once again, the other bases are getting major seasonal breaks in their reserve numbers, but we remain high.

IPD wraps up the summer flying with the last trips for DUB and FCO departing on the 24th.

As a result of the seasonal cuts, the company offered VLOAs for another month. These continue to be popular, and we have never had a problem with people not taking them.

The month has a schedule change on the 6th, but the distribution is even throughout the month. The day of the week has more impact on the trips than the schedule changes. We still see the spike on the 1st in trips and a major pulldown on the 31st because of the Halloween holiday. There are also charters (It’s football season) and additional flying for special events, but no real holiday spike in October.

The trip distribution is roughly the same as September with a slight increase in 3 days. Our trips break down as;

• 1 days will make up 21% of our flying (Down)
• 2 days will make up 16% of our flying (Up)
• 2/3 Days will make up 16% of our flying (Up)
• 3 days will make up almost 40% of our flying (Up)
• 3/4 days will make up almost 2% of our flying (Slightly down)
• 4 days will make up 2% of our flying (Slightly down)
• Red Eyes are still holding strong at almost 3% of our flying.
• ODANs are coming in slightly down at 7.2% of our flying.
• Pink Eyes and Bullets are at less than 1%.

The 1 days took a hit with the loss of seasonal flying; The number of 4 leg one days is about the same. If the company could figure out a way to cut the sit time on the 4 leggers, these would be more tolerable. Even with the 4 leggers, the one days do not pose a problem with open time. This shows the company that 1 and 2 days are more desirable trips.

The 2 days were much improved over the summer construction. There was a wide range of 2 days which was a welcome change to multiple legs and early departures.

We have bank reductions and a reduced overall schedule. This has led to more 2/3 days depending on the day of the week. When the first or last bank of flights is not running on a particular day, the optimizer solves the problem by just keeping the crews on an extended overnight. We still have a healthy amount of these trips with the long breaks. The only draw back is they are in low frequency cities, not premium destinations such as the islands.

The 3 days increased over September, but as a whole, they were not as brutal. There are more one and done at the end and the departure times varied. Sit time is up again, some of this is due to an overall reduced schedule, but the majority of long sits were built into the 3 days.

The 4 days had the usual commuting problems, but they are still some of the best built trips. If you like 4 days, there are some good trips in this package. 1 or 2 legs a day, decent overnights and longer rests.

The ODANs remain a staple of CLT flying. Our location allows for more short haul flights and when we have full banks of flying, the computer naturally builds these. They get cut mainly by the Bank cuts. We have 7% of our trips as ODANs, many bases only have a few or none for some parts of the year.

Red Eyes have made a drastic improvement over last year. We see the majority of them “Stepping” out to the West Coast, meaning going to DFW, PHX or PHL and then heading out West. This is welcome over doing a full turn and then heading out to the coast. The Red Eyes have some of the overnights cut to 22 hours, but they are no longer creating open time to the system. There is a semblance of balance with the red eyes, bullets and pink eyes.

Balance and choice are what we want in a flying mixture. When we get to these months in the fall and winter, this is when we see more balance and livable trips. There is more vacation time in the down months, so flexibility is key to building an even schedule that works for everyone.

October 2025 Bidding Timeline

October has some balance, but there are still some ugly trips. 5% of the trips have less than a 12 hour overnight where 51% of the trips have 12 to 16 hours. The rest has some improvements over last year, but we also have a reduced schedule over last year. Our fear is that when they start putting time back into the schedule, the rest will be reduced as they will try and cram as much time and legs into the trips as possible. We still have the 4 leg days built into trips and this is something we were hoping would be worked on outside of the 1 days. It looks like there are no plans to change the model and as soon as the network is expanded, our trips will get worse, not better.

What can we expect for the holidays and next year? More flights, crowded terminals, no catering, poor management support, reschedules, more reserves, delays and disgruntled passengers. Sounds a lot like last summer, not an actual improvement for the passengers or crewmembers. Enjoy October.

Take care of yourselves and each other.

The Charlotte APFA Team

In Solidarity,

Scott Hazlewood
APFA CLT Base President
[email protected]

Frank Cagle
APFA CLT Base Vice President
[email protected]