I happen to know a bit more about this now, and will share what I’ve learned.
The Airline Manufacturing Pilots (AMPA) are represented by SPEEA, the engineering union within Boeing. Ray Goforth is the SPEEA President, and the above press release is from him (or the communications department).
The AMPA (full time Boeing) pilots actually do have “magnitudes” more 787 experience than the contractor pilots. The AMPA pilots have been flying the airplane, supporting the Boeing Test team throughout all phases of the three year experimental test program. To date they have delivered nearly all of the 787’s to customers worldwide, and have provided line or base training to ANA, JAL, Air India, Ethiopian, LAN, United, and Qatar. Aside from the Boeing Engineering Test and Production Pilots, the AMPA pilots have by far the most experience flying the 787 in the world. In addition, they have nearly 5 years of simulator experience in the 787, instructing students and regulatory agencies, and validating the simulator software loads worldwide. The AMPA pilots know this airplane inside and out. In addition to the 787, the AMPA pilots instruct in all other Boeing models.
Conversely, there is very little known about the contract pilots Boeing has hired. Their backgrounds and training are a mystery, and the company that pays them is based somewhere in the UK. Certainly they must all have excellent aviation backgrounds, but the fact remains no one really knows. The majority of them have been on the contract payroll for nearly two years now, and to date, have not participated in a single event other than maintaining their own recurrent. They have not flown a single line assist, or participated in a single revenue earning flight. The only actual airplane experience they have had in the last two years was a one-day airplane ride in a 787 where they each demonstrated 3 touch and go landings under the supervision of AMPA pilots. The flying they do with Qatar and LAN will be the very first time they have flown (not including their 3 touch and go landings) since the inception of their group two years ago, and their first time ever instructing on the 787 airplane or simulator.
The part that is frustrating to the AMPA pilots is that they are readily available during the timeframe Boeing has decided to use the contract pilots. I sense that the feeling they are getting is that they have a contract with the Boeing Company, and AMPA has been the exclusive provider of Boeing Company airplane training since 1958. It appears to them that the company is attempting to circumvent their contract in order to outsource the job overseas. There are serious concerns that the contract pilot group, although highly experienced, will not operate under the same level of standardization that Boeing customers have come to expect.
I know that it is in style to bash unions these days, but if my airlines management decided to hire an entirely new group of pilots, outside of the collective bargaining unit, with less than 1 hour of flight time on the airplane, I would be concerned not only for myself, but for the customer.