JS,
The way it was explained to me was that at EK you get paid a salary, and then a bit more for scheduled block time. Your 92hrs are therefore block hours, and above the 92hrs overtime threshold your hourly flight pay is increased, but your base salary remains constant.
The 92 is the current number set by the company, and has been raised ‘temporarily’ over the company’s history due to operational reasons, and without any consultation with the pilot group. Base salary was not raised resulting in an increase to productivity, only the overtime threshold. To my knowledge it has never been reduced ‘temporarily’. You are invited to bid monthly, and then you are rostered at the company’s discretion for any combination of trips/duties that will bring you up to the maximum of 92hrs.
In a bygone era, all trips/duties were credited towards the company’s quota, and we were paid for them.
Currently however, simulator support duties generate credit, but duties such as your own proficiency simulator, safety and emergency procedures, ground training or online courses and exams are all mandatory but are not included in the 92hrs quota. Company transport will collect you between 2 hours and 2.5 hours before departure, although pre-flight duties before departure and post flight duties 30 minutes after are not part of the quota, nor is any turnaround time.
- You could do 2 x ULR (Ultra Long Range) returns, and 1 x LR (Long Range) return, across multiple time zones and meet the threshold. This would involve typically 24-28hrs crew rest in the bunk, 3 trips to work in company transport, and 3 trips back to the airport from the various hotels.
- Alternatively you could do 15 x Middle East/India/North Africa turnarounds and remain essentially on DXB local time but still not meet the threshold. This would all be seat time, 15 trips to work in company transport and typically 1.5hrs between each sector during the turnaround.
It varies greatly between the fleets, and the type of roster the company generates, which explains why Al Murdoch has averaged less than SOPS.
There is also a complex factoring process associated with crew rest, but the company makes no distinction between fatigue generated by various time zones, multi-sectors flights or night flights, or a combination of all three factors when they coincide – so essentially all block hours are credited towards the 92 quota equally.
Your question therefore does not have a simple answer, as at EK you need to distinguish between your ‘real flying’ block hours, duty hours, and just the other hours associated with attending, preparing and completing operational duties.
The G