3.05.26 – APFA CLT Base Brief – April 2026 Staffing and Allocations

April 2026 Staffing and Allocations

Thursday, March 5, 2026

We had our monthly call with the company to review the schedule for April. There were no major surprises. We will see the full IPD schedule operating throughout the entire month, with the exception of ATH, which will return in May.

Our hours increased by almost 9,000, bringing the total to 205,364. This is the highest number of hours we have seen outside of the peak summer months. We are also seeing more four-solution (position) aircraft built into the Charlotte schedule. In addition, there will be earlier introductions of NIPD daily destinations and more daily flights overall.

In simple terms, after the schedule change on the 7th, the daily schedule will remain very consistent for the remainder of the month. This will set us up for even more hours being added as we move into the summer schedule.

We will be receiving 151 new hires in April. The company typically hires in the spring to ensure adequate staffing for the summer months. This year they began earlier than usual, and we are receiving the majority of the new hires early in the season.

As a result, staffing levels for April look good, and the company is offering 38 VLOAs. Because the new hires are arriving early in the month, the company is not using them as heavily for reserve coverage as they have in the past.

Our reserve number will be 728, or 20.6%. Including the new hires, that number would be 24.8%. Both percentages are significantly lower than what we have seen previously when operating at over 200,000 hours of flying.

The cutoff for reserve rotation will be March 30, 2023.

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We will continue operating nine banks of flying, which will reduce to eight banks on Tuesdays, with some additional pull-downs on Wednesdays. We anticipate maintaining this bank structure because it allows additional time for maintenance teams to work on the aircraft.

DFW will transition to a new 13-bank structure. This new approach is expected to reduce aircraft sit times in DFW and improve overall efficiency.

Easter falls on the first weekend of April, creating a semi-holiday schedule. While this only adds a few additional trips, the total amount of flying for the month remains the same. The difference is that the flying has been incorporated more efficiently into existing trips by adding more legs to those pairings. This results in the same amount of flying time being built into fewer trips.

Trip distribution follows the typical pattern, with peaks on Thursdays and Fridays and fewer trips on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. The highest number of trips occurs on the 1st.Trip Breakdown

Our trips break down as follows:

• 1-day trips: 24% of our trips (up)
• 2-day trips: 19% (down)
• 2/3-day trips: 16% (up)
• 3-day trips: 30% (slightly down)
• 3/4-day trips: 2.5% (about the same)
• 4-day trips: 3% (same)
• ODANs: Almost 7% (slightly down)
• Red Eyes: Down to 2% of trips

There is one additional Pink Eye and three fewer Bullets, which together account for less than 1% of trips.

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1-Day Trips
The increase in 1-day trips is largely due to the early increase in the overall schedule. About 23% of these are four-leg days. The sit time before the victory lap remains an issue, but it has improved overall.

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2-Day Trips
Two-day trips are down. When the schedule is evenly distributed, the computer tends to build more 3- and 4-day trips by adding additional legs. To reduce the number of 3-day trips, the system may split them into more 1-day and 2-day trips.

For example, a 3-day trip may be split into two 2-day trips with additional soft time built in. The company generally does not favor soft time. For April, the schedule shows a more even distribution across the month, which allows for more hard-time 1-day trips and productive 3-day trips, reducing the need to cut large numbers of 3- or 4-day trips.

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3-Day Trips
Three-day trips are slightly down for the third consecutive month. The trips that remain are productive, high-time trips. These continue to be the workhorse of our schedule, but they also tend to be the most problematic.

Approximately 24% of trips have built-in sit times exceeding 2 hours and 30 minutes, with most of these occurring in 3-day trips. These trips often include the longest duty days, four-leg days, and the shortest overnights.

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2/3-Day and 3/4-Day Trips
Combined, 2/3-day and 3/4-day trips make up nearly 18% of our trips. While they remain popular, they typically pay less than traditional 3- or 4-day trips and can be more easily modified during rescheduling.

We also saw a few 3/4-day trips that are not commutable, so it is important to review these carefully. There are some very good pairings and some very poor ones.

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ODANs
ODANs saw a slight decrease. The system naturally generates many ODANs in CLT, and planners must limit how many the computer produces. Additional constraints include:

• The elimination of Bank 9 on Tuesdays
• Five hours of scheduled pure rest requirements

Despite these limitations, our base still has the healthiest number of ODANs compared to other bases.

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Red Eyes
Red Eye trips have decreased, largely due to the return of a full schedule, which makes it easier to incorporate flying from multiple bases into local base trips.

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April 2026 Bidding Timelines

Overall, our trips remain largely unchanged, and we expect this trend to continue into the summer months. Our concern is that another large block of flying could be added this summer as the company pursues additional revenue. This brings back memories of the challenges we faced during the summer of 2024. We hope the company learned from that experience and will position the operation more like last summer, with a realistic schedule that still allows the company to maximize revenue.

For April, we have a strong and healthy schedule. Staffing levels are appropriate for the amount of flying, and the line average remains low. If our flying levels do not change significantly as we move into the summer, this is likely what you can expect for the next several months.

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]