2.10.25 – APFA PHL Base Brief – March 2025 Staffing and Allocations

March 2025 PHL Staffing and Allocations

Monday, February 10, 2025

Hello PHL,

Fly Eagles Fly!!

March is just two weeks away and marks the beginning of new hires coming to PHL, increased flying and the return of IPD flying at the end of the month.

March 30th is the official start-up date for seasonal IPD flying systemwide. There also will be a major schedule change on March 06 that increases overall systemwide flying, (narrowbody flying by 7% and widebody flying by 9%).

March also starts the spring break season and those destinations popular with spring breakers will see increased frequencies.

NEW HIRE CLASSES FOR 2025

As mentioned in last month’s allocations brief, IQT (new-hire training) began 15JAN25 and at that time, new classes were scheduled to begin weekly well into March. That hasn’t changed. That’s the good news. The great news is the first two graduating classes are coming to PHL (40 from the first class and 41 from the second class). Systemwide, 279 new hires will be added in March. The first class of graduates will be ready to fly starting March 04 and the second class March 11th.Once we are made aware of any new classes beyond what is currently forecasted, we will advise the base via a hotline.

RESERVES

The good news about increased flying also brings with it the not-so-good news for reserve flying. The number of projected reserves jumps from 370 in February to 430 in March. The systemwide average is projected to be 20.0%. PHL is projected to be at 17.5%, up from 15.5% in February. March has St. Patrick’s Day March 17, but no other holidays during the month.

STAFFING

March’s monthly line average is projected to be 80.6 hours, up from 77.0 hours. Systemwide, the line average is projected to be80.8 hours, up from 77.4 in February. The average number of sequence starts per day for PHL will be 303: Sequence starts = (# of sequences) x (# of positions/sequence). Think of ‘sequence starts per day’ as the number of flight attendants needed to report each day for all trips depart that day. Systemwide, this average will be 3,319 sequence starts per day. These are increases from 280 and 3,132 in February respectively. Once again, sequence starts are highest over the weekends and after the schedule change March 06, the daily sequence starts average right around 300 to just over 300 almost every day.

There will be no VLOAs offered for March.

SEQUENCE STATISTICS

ODANs

ODANS increase from in March. CHS will be back as an ODAN. BOS, CHS, PVD, and PIT are available to bid.

IPDVCE and ATH are the first to return. There will be 4-day positioning trips through LHR departing on the 27th and daily service beginning for both on the 29th. February averaged 58 widebody sequence starts per day. In March that average jumps to 75 widebody sequence starts per day. Overall, this means ajump in international flying for PHL from 36,323 hours in February to 43,302 hours in March; this includes both NIPD and IPD flying.

The bottom line is premium international flying is returning to PHL. DOH remains staffed with 10 flight attendants. Once again, we continue to keep a close watch on this flight for staffing changes. April will see even more increases to IPD flying.

DOMESTIC WIDEBODY FLYING

Most of the wide-bodies are transitioning from domestic flying systemwide to IPD flying for the seasonal flying. Sadly, that brings an ‘almost’ end to domestic widebody flying for PHL. The DFW 2 day operates only on dates: 02, 03, 06, and 27. Other than that, domestic flying for PHL is all narrow body.

PIT SATELLITE

PIT satellite flying drops to 4,714 hours from 4,744 hours in February. Using the projected line average of 80.6 hours, PIT will have a projected 58 lines (February was 61) of pure PIT flying. This number will go up or down based on the bidding of pure/partial lines of satellite flying, high/low TCRs, as well as vacation.

GENERAL REMINDERS

• First quarter WBTs are due March 17 at 2359 (CT).
• Vacation bids for the 2025/2026 vacation year are now open and close 26FEB2025 at 12:00 CT. Section 8 in the CBA is the Vacation section. Please read 8.A.1-3 for how vacation days are accrued and section 8.B.1-2 for how vacation is paid and credited (new for the 2025/26 vacation year).
• For our FAs who commute, please keep in mind, hotel room availability in PHL is reduced due to the increase of passengers during Spring Break. If you commute, please read the Commuter policy (section 37.I) of the APFA CBA.
• Every month the PBS Cover Sheet is included in the bid packets found on the Inflight Service website accessible via Crewportal. The cover sheet contains answers to many frequently asked questions, such as:
  • Phone numbers
  • Charts for duty and layover requirements
  • Bidding timelines
  • Links to the PBS guide and other pertinent information.

The cover sheet can be accessed via Crewportal:

CREWPORTAL > LINKS > INFLIGHT WEBSITE > BIDDING & RESOURCES >
CURRENT BID SHEETS> PBS COVER SHEET.

• Mark your calendars! We are scheduled to have Virtual Base Meetings on 01APR25, 01JULY25 and 01OCT25.

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PHL STRONG! PHL PROUD! 

In Solidarity,

Tracey Montanari
APFA PHL Base President
[email protected]

John Pratt
APFA PHL Base Vice President
[email protected]