No dog in the fight but would U.S. style, or long haul European airlines, rostering improve retention or hiring? The U.S. pilots at EK would be a good resource to ask about U.S. style improvements that would work in EK’s system.
Open access to the Jumpseat for commuting, PBS system for bidding (seniority based), trip trading system, allowing trips to be stacked against each other, minimum hours credit per day, etc. Depending upon the trip length and sign-in times, with mostly long haul flying, you could end up with 15-21 days off per month. And local guys might fly the turns maximiizng the hours per day credited.
It’s the exception to follow the entire month of the schedule you were assigned in the U.S. Access to a trip trading system allows that. One man’s vinegar is another man’s wine.
With front loading a month and back loading the following month you’re able to get 8-20 day breaks every other month if you desire.
Because of the different scheduling systems approx half of all U.S. pilots commute and few actually flew their entire assigned schedule.
Drop the monthly bids down to 80-85 hrs, while allowing higher pickup limits, with Jumpseat access for commuting and active trip trading might make EK one of the most desirable non U.S. jobs for Europe based pilots.
The sort of stuff a union would propose but we know that’s not happening.
For your sakes hopefully supply and demand problems force meaningful changes at EK.
Last edited by misd-agin; 25th Mar 2018 at 22:19.