3.05.22 – APFA PHL Base Brief – April 2022 Staffing and Allocations

Saturday, March 5, 2022

April 2022 PHL Staffing and Allocations

The April allocations continue to be built to allow for the 10-hour FAR minimum layer rest requirement, which hasn’t been required yet by the FAA.

Our sit times have improved slightly on some trips and then on others, there are three-plus hour sits on each duty period. We still have sequences with a long duty day followed by a short layover. We continue to point out the problematic sequences but have seen very little if any improvement.

We do have one BOS ODAN that will operate daily; one is better than none. We will continue to advocate for ODANs. We were told part of the issue with ODANs specifically in PHL has to do with network planning. For example, a 3 FA aircraft may fly the last flight of the night from PHL, and the first flight in the morning back to PHL is a 4 FA aircraft. This makes trying to find ODAN solutions very difficult. The company has heard from us, as well as the members on the importance of maintaining ODANs in our bid sheets.

In April we will see some additional high time turns, a few redeye turns, and pink eyes. With the start-up of IPD flying, they have reduced our domestic flying to balance the flying to our headcount. I have asked for a breakdown of block hours been IPD/NIPD and Domestic.

The wait is over! For April we will see the full month startup up of our seasonal IPD flying. This could still change based on COVID destination requirements, but as of right now they are all scheduled to begin. I am happy to report we will see AMS, ATH, BCN, CDG, DUB, FCO, 2 LHRs, LIS, MAD, and ZRH. Both LHR trips are 3 days. VCE is scheduled to start in May.