2.06.26 – APFA ORD Base Brief – March 2026 Staffing and Allocations

March 2026 ORD Staffing and Allocations

Friday, February 6, 2026

Happy February, Chicago.

As we look forward to February and try to put the month of January behind us, we are acutely aware of the disaster that is being referred to as an “IROPS” in January.

Please be sure to file all Direct Connects that apply to you as soon as possible: Company Accountability for Contract Violations: Winter Storm Fern

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Important Dates

• March Bid Month: March 2 – March 31
• Daylight Saving Time Begins – Sunday, March 8
• St. Patrick’s Day River Dye – March 14
• St. Patrick’s Day – Tuesday, March 17
• Palm Sunday – Sunday, March 29

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ORD Base Townhall

March 20th at 1200 ORD APFA will host a virtual townhall. We anticipate recording it and putting it on the ORD APFA Base page if you are not able to attend live. A link to the virtual townhall will be sent before the meeting.

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Allocations

In March, IPD begins to increase, with HNL continuing throughout March.

Rome – FCO:

• March 27th – Double DH through PHL to fly FCO-ORD on March 29th

• March 28th – ORD daily to FCO resumes

Madrid – MAD:

• March 6th – Double DH through PHL to fly MAD-ORD on March 8th

• March 7th – ORD Daily to MAD resumes

Barcelona – BCN:

• March 27th – Double DH through PHL to fly BCN-ORD on March 29th

• March 28th – ORD Daily to BCN resumes

There has been a slight increase in ODANs, we will monitor their impact on open time.

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Staffing

ORD has a reserve percentage of 18.3% for March vs the system average of 18.3%.

In March, we are expecting 3 New Hire classes, 87 of which will be based in Chicago. We are happy to have them!

There will be 2,200 Lineholders in March.

MSP Satellite: Hours in MSP have decreased over the last few months. The company has committed to bringing these numbers closer to the 1,400 we have historically seen by the April bid month.

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Daily Departures

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Sequence Distribution

• 1-day: 28% in March vs 29% in February
• 2-day: 25% in March vs 23% in February
• 3-day: 43% in March vs 44% in February
• 4-day: 4% in March vs 4% in February
• ODAN Starts per day: 11.5 in March vs 8.4 in February
• 12% of flying is Wide Body.

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PBS Preliminary Manning Plan

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To bid for vacation, go to the Crew Portal. Once logged in, click on:

Monthly Bids > Vacation > Annual > Bidding Ballots

If you have any questions regarding your accrual or bidding process, you may email [email protected] or open a ticket on the Support Tab on Crew Portal.

Safe Travels!

In Solidarity,

Justin Patterson
APFA ORD Base President
ORD Base Number: (773) 645-0809
Cell: (509) 720-0067
[email protected]

Dray Howard
APFA ORD Base Vice President
ORD Base Number: (773) 645-0809
Cell: (630) 215-8410
[email protected]