Originally Posted by
Avinthenews
So were Brisbane and Melbourne under manned before or are they now over manned?
Looking at the 330 and 350 roster, one can see over the last year or so a very significant percentage of flights, especially to Brisbane, are being crewed by HK based pilots. Couple that with the fact that a number of captains have retired off the base, and a number of FO's have gone back to HK for command, then I would opine that the base was very undermanned.
Many crew are suggesting these slots have just materialized out of thin air, and semantics aside, I would suggest they have increasingly been available, just simply not released by CX for every eligible crew to apply for.
Whilst I have no dog in this race, as I'm not interested in applying for an Australian base, it does seem fair that the Basings agreement, the very mechanism which allows crew to apply for a base, is the very same agreement that offers some protections to crew when there is a reduction in crewing.
As to whether this should be classed as a type change or reduction in crewing, some would say it's a subjective viewpoint depending on your own position. The company have made theirs, be it correct or not, some agree, and not surprisingly, some do not.
As evidenced by one AOA forum member using the phrase "based for life brigade" to describe based pilots, it is unfortunate that this again seems to have driven a wedge between hk crew and based crew, and has us dissecting the words and intent in the Basings agreement. We're all on the same team, we know where our vitriol should be directed.