Here is it how it works.
We have 4 Flight Divisions (Divisions de Vol):
-America (AME), that covers the US, Canada, Tahiti and all of South America. It's the biggest Division.
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Asia (ASI).
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Caribbean-Indian Ocean (COI, whose CC are known as ''the Coyotes''
)
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Africa-Middle East (AMO)
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Europe (EUR)
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France (FRA), that is based in Orly, while all the others are based in CDG.
Each Division has 2 to 5 Sectors (Secteurs de Vol), that cover different areas (ex inside AME you have Sector D which covers SFO-LAX-PPT-SEA-BOS).
This doesn't mean that CC belonging to the America Division only fly to America, or that CC belonging to D Sector only fly to SFO-LAX-PPT-SEA-BOS.
It means that you are
specialized in those destinations, and you should fly there at least once a month (but it is not always the case). You get extra training (on top of what all CC get) about the culture of the country (like US, Indian, Chinese, Japanese pax...) and the product you offer on the flights. A Japan flight has a totally different service and product than an India flight. There are CC (that are called Référents) with extra cultural training that have as a mission to pass on their knowledge to the other CC. They speak during the briefing and are a reference during the flight.
Very often you are assigned to a certain Division and Sector because of your competence, like languages you speak. But you are not forced to do it: you can request another Division if you want. You then will be put into a seniority list and twice a year there are the new assignments.
Regardless of your Division, you can fly other routes. I am on AME, but my next flight is NRT (Tokio).
About your friend
Fouga, there is a possible explanation. When you join, even if you are, say, a Swedish national, your knowledge of the Swedish language must be checked before you get the official right to be a Swedish speaker. If she just joined, it is likely that she didn't have the time to pass the exam, so she would be assigned to another Division. But she can move to ASI after having her Japanese ''note'', as we call it. Normally, you are assigned to a division whose language you speak.
About the aircraft specialization, we are allowed only 3, a family of A/C counting as one. Ex. 777-200 and 777-300 are one specialization, or 340 and 330, or 318, 319, 320, 321. 747 counts as one (we only have the 400), but as Fouga says it is being replaced by more 777 and the A380.
Plastic Pilot,
I speak 4 languages fluently. Beat that!
