6.05.20 – APFA CLT Base Brief – July Allocations

Friday, June 5, 2020

July 2020 Allocations

Good Day CLT Flight Attendants,

We had our monthly allocations calls with the Company this week, and we wanted to give you the details on how things are shaping up for July.

There is always good news and bad news. It all depends on what you like to fly. For the most part, the news is positive. Charlotte will get a 43% increase in the number of trips for July compared to June. This is encouraging to see the system come back. Charlotte fared better than the system average. This was due to an increase in customer demand for domestic travel.

While our load factor has been steadily increasing, we are not where we need to be to get out of this mess. However, the increase in more than 260 trips for our base is a positive sign that we are moving in the right direction. The man hours have increased from 42,000 in June to 59,000 in July. This is nowhere near the 160,000 hours we were at last summer, but a move in the right direction.

Here is the bad news. IPD flying has not had as much demand, and the scheduled London and Munich trips will be delayed until August 5th. One of the stumbling blocks to the return of IPD flying is our status as a “gateway” city. If you remember, only gateway cities, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), can fly from Europe. Charlotte and Philadelphia have not had their status changed, so we are still prevented from flying those routes. The Company is actively working on changing this status with the CDC. You may check the status of all American cities at CDC.gov. Many of the island destinations and the South American countries still are banning flights to the US because of our Covid ranking. The return to full IPD service will definitely be a slow crawl.

CLT was one of the few bases that recently had only four (4) banks of flights. The good news is the Company is adding two (2) banks. We do not have the details on what days of the week or the times of the banks. However, this is a sign of the comeback we were hoping for at our airline. Also, keep an eye on the  airport standby shifts. They will be reflective of the banks of flying.

Another positive sign is that aircraft will also be returning to the system. Maintenance will be doing checks and moving those aircraft back into the network in the coming weeks. Overall, AA will be flying over 50% of our schedule compared to last year. Charlotte will be slightly higher. Our schedule will be more aggressive than most of our competition.

There are 1,384 active Flight Attendants in Charlotte. 787 will be Lineholders and 307 are slated for Reserve. There will be 290 VLOAs offered with 70 hours attached. The need to pull bodies from the system to get it to process is still there. But moving forward, the numbers of VLOAs will decrease. Bidding for the 70-hour VLOA is now open and will close on Sunday, June 7th at Noon (CDT). You may access the ballot via Jetnet > Flight Service > 70-hour VLOA Bidding

Don’t forget to toggle on the LRD! We have a huge amount of Reserves; 307 to be exact. This is due to the 4th of July holiday. The Company always increases the number for this month just to cover for the first week. This year is no exception. The formula the Company uses is based on the total headcount,  and not reflective of the larger numbers of VLOAs we have now. As a result, they are showing we have 22.2% of the base as Reserve. We know the number is actually 39%. We had 178 reserves in June, and they reported the lower percentage last month as well. We did push for a lower number, asking for more VLOAs, so our Reserves can have an opportunity to fly and break guarantee as they did last summer. We will wait and see if our request is granted.

The system looked solid, and the Company said they do not plan to have the cancellation rate they had in May, or so far in June. With the news of 30% layoffs in Management, and the early restructuring of the departments, it is hard not to speculate on how the network will end up beginning in October. The real indicator to what the new business model will look like is the ability to sell the seats on the routes we are fling this summer. July will be a crucial indicator of where we are heading in the future.

Take care of each other and stay safe. ~ The Charlotte APFA Team

In Solidarity,

Scott Hazlewood
APFA CLT Base President
[email protected]