Fatcat

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2020/02/29/...ight-cuts.html
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United Airlines is offering pilots to take a month off at reduced pay, according to a union memo sent on Friday, a measure that follows flight cuts due to the spread of coronavirusThe Chicago-based carrier has more service to Asia than any other U.S. airline. United earlier this week pulled its full-year guidance because of the outbreak and said demand to China collapsed entirely and fell by 75% in the rest of the airline's Asia network. United also on Friday announced it would postpone its investor day, which was scheduled for next Thursday.

United is now offering some widebody pilots a month off in April at the pay rate for 50 hours a month, lower than the roughly 80 hours pilots normally work, wrote Todd Insler, a United captain and chairman of the United branch of the Air Line Pilots Association, in a note to union members.

The reductions in block hours has resulted in lower line values and fewer flying opportunities in some fleets," he said. "We are preparing for the possibility of further reductions to our schedules as the virus spreads.

United did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The virus is threatening to end a boom in air travel that helped propel U.S. airlines to a decade of profitability. Airline stocks fell more sharply than the broader market as corporations pulled back on business travel raising concerns about a broader slowdown in demand.


United's pilots, like those at American and Delta, are in the middle of contract negotiations with the company.

"As of now, there has been no impact on our negotiating strategy or timeline," Insler told pilots in his note. "During negotiations both sides always keep economic cycles and external events in mind. Our goal remains ensuring we have a robust contract that protects our pilots throughout their careers in all economic cycles."

cadetdrivr

Misleading thread headline. 🙄

Certain pilots on specific fleets may VOLUNTEER for reduced guarantee (50 hrs of credit) in exchange for having the month off. Pilots who don’t volunteer are still given full schedules and paid a minimum of guarantee.

This is in the United Pilot Agreement (UPA; a.k.a. the pilot contract) and is used as a temporary staffing measure.

It’s a win-win for the pilots and the company that is used to weather storms. If the crisis lasts more than several months then we can expect further measures.

It’s very expensive to displace and retrain pilots so in the short term it makes sense to pay guys to hang out rather than downsize and then try to spool back up three months later.

domino

I am expecting further measure in about 6 months as this thing drags on

cadetdrivr

Nothing would surprise me at this point.

JurgenKlopp

Doom doom doom!

drywhitetoast

Wow. Thanks for posting week old news.🙄

rvfanatic

what would that look like? It’s my 1st rodeo

JoePatroni

They come for the dry cleaning and energy bars first.

Mudge

They can have the soybean oil laced crew meals, too.

okieskies99

If they already had to spend the $ on bumps and retraining, I imagine they might use this as an opportunity to finally park the 75’s to save money with maintenance and fleet/training consolidation, but probably only if the Max was back and the projected demand was looking low for an extended time. Who knows though. I was on vacation in Mexico When the swine flu was the next end of the world thing. Canada even sent a jet down to evacuate Canadians from Mexico. Then a little while later people hardly remember the swine flu. There are some pretty smart people on the board here though that get into tracking the fleets that probably would have some good guesses.