Yup - Its all about increasing productivity and lowering cost per pilot/hour.
A productivity hour costs the company about 50% of what the normal roster hour costs.
Do the math.
A) Salary + Accom + School Fees(Avg 2 kids) + ALT + ERP, Profitshare + Uniform + Medical etc.
B) Yearly hours = 820 hrs (10.5 months at 78 hrs/month) (1.5 month leave approx)
Divide A by B to get cost per hour.
Answer is: Much more than the pathetic rate paid for productivity.
So EK makes each pilot hour cheaper, requires less recruitment this year, which in turn lowers the pressure to increase salaries expecially in a recession.
Training load is reduced and more may turn to training. Training costs are reduced. Currently a training captain in productivity is cheaper than a line captain!
There are more subtle implications. Once the initial shock has been swallowed the days off can be manipulated around the following:
Days off post leave. Currently some pilots use small chunks of leave which has the effect of increasing days off in a year. This can now be counted out of the system by including them in the maximum.
Days off downroute. Already happening on a small scale. Expect more of this when the roster requires it to maximise productivity.
There are a few others...
Like everything else at EK, this is not a random bright idea from one individual. There has been a thorough cost analysis showing large savings.
No-one will leave, there will still be new joiners. (EK's
PR and recruitment is still well presented and appealing to the uninformed)
Ed got the job of presenting the system. As usual it was done last thing in the week to give everyone time to absorb it before acting pre-emptively.
This is another big move, similar to the "cost neutral" scheme that lowered cost per pilot/hour a few year back. This is the first of a number of moves.
Standby for the changes to minimum qualifications for recruitment and maximum hours permitted in a year. Both are required to give weight to the new changes. When they are effected, we will be working for considerably less per hour, there will be less commuting and any idea on basings will drift into oblivion as it will never compete economically.
I would enjoy reading the full proposal that was drawn up to present to management. The numbers, options and possibilities must be impressive.
Pilots must accept that every change is to ensure only one thing. Increased productivity at their expense.