Crews per Airframe

[OperationsNormal]

Quick query people........

Is there some basic 'formula' that a company uses to work out how many crew they require per airframe ??

[SPFlyer]

many airlines work on a basis of 5 crews per aircraft.

This covers legal days off, sickness, annual leave and ideally the odd standby crew if possible!!

Hope this helps,

SPF.

[bacardi walla]

work out how many flying hrs your program per a/c covers, divide by the number of hrs a Captain can work in a year (900 under UK rules) and that's how many crews you need as a minimum.

[Big Tudor]

Ops Normal

Using the 'crews per airframe' equation is fraught with pitfalls if you are using it as a definitive planning option. The number of crews you need is driven more by the number of crews that are required to operate that airframe on a daily basis. If the aircraft is doing 2 sectors a day then you are going to need less crews than if it's doing 8-10 sectors. An obvious statement I know but one that is very easily overlooked by the bean counters! For basic high level numbers we work on 7 crews per airframe for shorthaul, 8.5 crews for mix long/short haul and 10 crews per airframe for long haul flying. However, these numbers are refined once the flying programme is known and can go up or down.
You also have the 'critical mass' equation to add in, that is the more aircraft in one base you have then the less crew you need per airframe, reducing at approx 1/2 crew per aircraft up to 4. As a basic calculation we use the following:

1 short-haul airframe = 7 crews per aircraft
2 short-haul airframe = 6.5 " "
3 short-haul airframe = 6 " "
4 short-haul airframe = 5.5 " "

For 5 airframes use the values for 4 + 1 above, for 6 use 4 + 2, etc.

I must stress however that these calculations are for high level numbers only and should be re-evaluated using the planned flying program. And don't forget to add in attrition, long-term sickness, training, etc.

E-mail me if you want any more info.

[OperationsNormal]

Thanks for the info guys..... Just what I was after

Not planning anything myself, just idle curiosity really.

I was interested to know if on paper, my company is under or over staffed. Were always told were over staffed with tech crew but we are always working standby days and RDO's.

Thanks again !