Air NZ pilot redundancies
Greg Foran's latests communication changed the timeframe, but not the 70%. That is what they're sticking with and that is what Pilot Redundancies were based off. If Redundancies were based on the current flying schedule, 700+ would of gotten letters last week.
To approach this with a bit more common sense. In 3 months time (redundancy notice Period) the Airbus fleet will lose over half it's First Officers right as Domestic (and potentially Trans-Tasman) begin to pick back up. Under normal circumstances it takes approximately 3 months (Sim + Line training) to facilitate a fleet change. Obviously they can't have 100 Pilots training simultaneously. If they decide to take another swipe off the bottom, say 200 for example, that would be all the Airbus FO's gone, and probably a few Captains. The only fleet with much work on would be grounded.
I've said it countless times, and until proven wrong, I'll keep saying it. COVID-19 is a disaster, but it wont be solved with more redundancies. Pre-Covid, Jet Pilot wages made up approximately 17% of the Total Wage bill and ~4-5% of the total annual expenses. Redundancies have shaved off about $20M, while the AFFA will be closer to $30M (annualized). The AFFA savings are immediate while the Redundancies have yet to come into effect.
If Air NZ are serious about being 70% size (which Foran confirmed a few days ago, merely pushing it out to 2022), any Pilot Redundancies beyond those numbers will result in even more strain on the training department as Pilots get recalled and down-trained Pilots get another direction back up the list.
Those most Junior Pilots, post redundancy, are about 4 years in, so their redundancies wont be as cheap (unless of course they take Furlough). On average, I'd say another 200 Pilot redundancies would cost 6-7 months Pay (notice period + redundancy). The Company then run the risk of the remaining Pilots not agreeing to extend the AFFA, which is worth more in cost savings than Redundancies.
Don't get me wrong, COVID isn't over by a long shot, but the next battle wont be the Axe chopping another 200 off the bottom. It'll be the Company requesting an extension to the AFFA and/or more concessions the the CEA.
And yet for those 2 months, the company did not revise their Pilot Redundancy numbers, and agreed to the AFFA as a means to reduce Redundancies as little as 2 weeks ago.
Greg Foran's latests communication changed the timeframe, but not the 70%. That is what they're sticking with and that is what Pilot Redundancies were based off. If Redundancies were based on the current flying schedule, 700+ would of gotten letters last week.
To approach this with a bit more common sense. In 3 months time (redundancy notice Period) the Airbus fleet will lose over half it's First Officers right as Domestic (and potentially Trans-Tasman) begin to pick back up. Under normal circumstances it takes approximately 3 months (Sim + Line training) to facilitate a fleet change. Obviously they can't have 100 Pilots training simultaneously. If they decide to take another swipe off the bottom, say 200 for example, that would be all the Airbus FO's gone, and probably a few Captains. The only fleet with much work on would be grounded.
I've said it countless times, and until proven wrong, I'll keep saying it. COVID-19 is a disaster, but it wont be solved with more redundancies. Pre-Covid, Jet Pilot wages made up approximately 17% of the Total Wage bill and ~4-5% of the total annual expenses. Redundancies have shaved off about $20M, while the AFFA will be closer to $30M (annualized). The AFFA savings are immediate while the Redundancies have yet to come into effect.
If Air NZ are serious about being 70% size (which Foran confirmed a few days ago, merely pushing it out to 2022), any Pilot Redundancies beyond those numbers will result in even more strain on the training department as Pilots get recalled and down-trained Pilots get another direction back up the list.
Those most Junior Pilots, post redundancy, are about 4 years in, so their redundancies wont be as cheap (unless of course they take Furlough). On average, I'd say another 200 Pilot redundancies would cost 6-7 months Pay (notice period + redundancy). The Company then run the risk of the remaining Pilots not agreeing to extend the AFFA, which is worth more in cost savings than Redundancies.
Don't get me wrong, COVID isn't over by a long shot, but the next battle wont be the Axe chopping another 200 off the bottom. It'll be the Company requesting an extension to the AFFA and/or more concessions the the CEA.
Greg Foran's latests communication changed the timeframe, but not the 70%. That is what they're sticking with and that is what Pilot Redundancies were based off. If Redundancies were based on the current flying schedule, 700+ would of gotten letters last week.
To approach this with a bit more common sense. In 3 months time (redundancy notice Period) the Airbus fleet will lose over half it's First Officers right as Domestic (and potentially Trans-Tasman) begin to pick back up. Under normal circumstances it takes approximately 3 months (Sim + Line training) to facilitate a fleet change. Obviously they can't have 100 Pilots training simultaneously. If they decide to take another swipe off the bottom, say 200 for example, that would be all the Airbus FO's gone, and probably a few Captains. The only fleet with much work on would be grounded.
I've said it countless times, and until proven wrong, I'll keep saying it. COVID-19 is a disaster, but it wont be solved with more redundancies. Pre-Covid, Jet Pilot wages made up approximately 17% of the Total Wage bill and ~4-5% of the total annual expenses. Redundancies have shaved off about $20M, while the AFFA will be closer to $30M (annualized). The AFFA savings are immediate while the Redundancies have yet to come into effect.
If Air NZ are serious about being 70% size (which Foran confirmed a few days ago, merely pushing it out to 2022), any Pilot Redundancies beyond those numbers will result in even more strain on the training department as Pilots get recalled and down-trained Pilots get another direction back up the list.
Those most Junior Pilots, post redundancy, are about 4 years in, so their redundancies wont be as cheap (unless of course they take Furlough). On average, I'd say another 200 Pilot redundancies would cost 6-7 months Pay (notice period + redundancy). The Company then run the risk of the remaining Pilots not agreeing to extend the AFFA, which is worth more in cost savings than Redundancies.
Don't get me wrong, COVID isn't over by a long shot, but the next battle wont be the Axe chopping another 200 off the bottom. It'll be the Company requesting an extension to the AFFA and/or more concessions the the CEA.
Credit where credit is due ElZilcho...
A coherent, sensible and well written few paragraphs of text there. (Highly unusual to see this on this forum these days)...
Heard the rumour today that they're about to move most 772s to Alice Springs for long term storage before winter and the associated moisture issues with storage.
Feel for the guys at the bottom of the new list, I can only imagine removing the 772 fleet will cut another 100 pilots off the bottom of the list.
Feel for the guys at the bottom of the new list, I can only imagine removing the 772 fleet will cut another 100 pilots off the bottom of the list.
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Heard the rumour today that they're about to move most 772s to Alice Springs for long term storage before winter and the associated moisture issues with storage.
Feel for the guys at the bottom of the new list, I can only imagine removing the 772 fleet will cut another 100 pilots off the bottom of the list.
Feel for the guys at the bottom of the new list, I can only imagine removing the 772 fleet will cut another 100 pilots off the bottom of the list.
We have 15 777's. 7x 300's and 8x 200's (excluding the SQ & EVA leases which have been returned). The Notional Seniority list provides crewing for 2x 777's, so parking most of them was always the plan.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/...orld-on-26-may
"Air New Zealand says it will make a loss because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The airline says it has had little revenue over the past six weeks under the level 4 and 3 lockdowns, having cut its capacity by 95 percent.
It's given no precise figure of the loss, but last year's earnings before tax and other charges were $374 million.
Chief financial officer Jeff McDowall said the airline is taking every step to limit its costs through redundancies, deferral of plane purchases, grounding a large part of its fleet and a freeze on non-essential spending.
He said the airline will take one-off financial hits because of the virus of between $554 million and $694 million.
McDowall says Air New Zealand has about $640 million in cash and hasn't yet touched the government loan of $900 million."
"Air New Zealand says it will make a loss because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The airline says it has had little revenue over the past six weeks under the level 4 and 3 lockdowns, having cut its capacity by 95 percent.
It's given no precise figure of the loss, but last year's earnings before tax and other charges were $374 million.
Chief financial officer Jeff McDowall said the airline is taking every step to limit its costs through redundancies, deferral of plane purchases, grounding a large part of its fleet and a freeze on non-essential spending.
He said the airline will take one-off financial hits because of the virus of between $554 million and $694 million.
McDowall says Air New Zealand has about $640 million in cash and hasn't yet touched the government loan of $900 million."
Supposedly 40 senior pilots accepted a voluntary redundancy, then the company only offered approximately 50% of what is in the contract! Unsurprisingly no one accepted the offer!
The down training is a killer for the business but how else should it be done. I know that I prefer a straight LIFO as opposed to allowing management to ‘select’ who they want to go. Also there should be a massive cost associated with making people redundant, hopefully the down training and cost may dissuade Air NZ from carrying out any more redundancies and the 100 mentioned above will turn out just to be a rumour.
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Well, none of the Reps I’ve spoken to have heard anything along these lines so I’d suggest it’s come from an individual speculating, or perhaps someone with a close contact in exec who leaked a long term strategy. To my knowledge, there have been no recent union meetings with the Exec as they’re still working with CC and Engineers.
The timing is also suspicious. The inks barely dried on the AFFA, which combined with other voluntary measures, saved 91 jobs. As I said above, I’d suggest the Co. would be walking a very tight legal line to announce 100 redundancies on the back of signing agreements that spared 100 jobs.
Will there be a round 2? Possibly, but I’ll be extremely surprised if it happens so soon.
Again, that would be mostly Airbus FO’s and we haven’t even started to replace those already made redundant.
I could be wrong, time will tell, but I’ll be campaigning to throw the AFFA in the bin if the company do a bait and switch on us.
Lastly, while the down training appears absurd, the company refused voluntary offers from 40+ 777 Captains as it was too expensive and instead offered them a “bonus” to take early retirement, which most rejected.
The timing is also suspicious. The inks barely dried on the AFFA, which combined with other voluntary measures, saved 91 jobs. As I said above, I’d suggest the Co. would be walking a very tight legal line to announce 100 redundancies on the back of signing agreements that spared 100 jobs.
Will there be a round 2? Possibly, but I’ll be extremely surprised if it happens so soon.
Again, that would be mostly Airbus FO’s and we haven’t even started to replace those already made redundant.
I could be wrong, time will tell, but I’ll be campaigning to throw the AFFA in the bin if the company do a bait and switch on us.
Lastly, while the down training appears absurd, the company refused voluntary offers from 40+ 777 Captains as it was too expensive and instead offered them a “bonus” to take early retirement, which most rejected.
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There’s nothing in the AFFA to prevent further redundancies. The numbers would have to be based around 60hrs rather than optimal IP, as that’s what saved jobs.
It would be a down training disaster... Most F20s would be gone. Junior C20s would only have notional seniority to be SOs.
Fingers crossed it doesn’t happen.
It would be a down training disaster... Most F20s would be gone. Junior C20s would only have notional seniority to be SOs.
Fingers crossed it doesn’t happen.