Iver

A few questions for the EK 777 pilots out there:

1. Given that the 777F fleet is rather small at the moment, for each pilot, what percentage of your personal flying is cargo flying? 5% of your total 777 flying?

2. Is a 777F flight randomly assigned or can people bid for those flights?

3. Can you start a trip flying a cargo flight and then end the trip with a passenger flight (if the 777 and 777F serve the same destination)?

4. I have spoken with some pilots who just prefer freight to passengers - less stress in their viewpoint. If you have flown both for EK, which is your preference?

5. Lastly, do the 777Fs have nice layovers (similar destinations to passenger fleet like HKG and FRA) or do they serve some non-passenger destinations in addition that are less than desireable? Does the freighter operation increase your route variety by much?


The freighter side sounds like a nice option for EK 777 pilots. Something different... Obviously Qatar is ramping-up its cargo operation with its own 777Fs and the recent announcement that up to 20 A330s will be converted to freigters (probably to eventually tie-up with Cargolux aircraft).

Cheers

dv8

1 I would say I have done less than 5% in the last year

2 In the bidding system you cant bid for cargo flights as such but if you bid for routes and layover times that are done by cargo then you end up with them or alternatively accept swap offers from the e swap or gmail ek swap there are always guys trying to get rid of them

3 It been either deadhead and opp, opp then deadhead or opp both ways But never a mix pax cargo but it may happen

4 I like doing them for the variety A change is as good (almost as a rest

5 The only cargo non pax destination I have done is VCP Otherwise its the same as pax

Hope this helps

halas

You can bid for cargo flights. Just request the pairing number you want. It's under pairing reports.

halas

GMC1500

the downside to cargo flights is that they tend to be forgotten by ops control, and there seems to be very little concern for ontime performance, particularly when it comes to shorter turnaround cargo flts, meaning you can sit for hours waiting for loading to be completed.
Also the timing of them is generally back of the clock.
I agree its nice for a change, but only a few times a year. I recently did 4 cargo flights in less than a month, 3 of them on reserve.

falconeasydriver

Freighter trips are easy to bid for, yeah you generally are late, and yep Ops can sometimes take their sweet time in sending a loadsheet.
That all said, there are no 88 year old diabetics having seizures to worry about, you can head back to the galley without fear of worry about your tie, and best of all there are no cabin crew snitching on you for petty stuff