3.10.23 – APFA DFW Base Brief – April 2023 Staffing and Allocations

Friday, March 10, 2023

April 2023 Staffing and Allocations
***Staffing Information is Preliminary and Subject to Change***

Manning Information:

• Total headcount: 6,793
• Available headcount: 6,346
• Lineholders: 5,045
• Reserves: 1,301 (20.5%)
• System Reserve: 19.4%
• Initial Reserve Seniority: 15397 (19AUG13)
• New Hires reporting to DFW in MAR: 95
• Vacancy transfers reporting on 02 MAY: 28 (4 NH)
• Expected opening line average: 78.2 hours
• Expected system line average: 79.0 hours

Important Timelines:

April Schedule Highlights:

Key Dates:

• Schedule change: Tuesday, 04 April

Holidays/Special Events:

• 54 Charters and Special Sections systemwide.
• Masters Golf Tournament additional flying and up-gauging equipment: 02APR-10APR.
• Bristol (TRI) NASCAR Dirt Race, additional flying and up-gauging equipment:  06APR-10APR.
• Easter Holiday:  09APR.
• Coachella (PSP) Music Festival, additional flying added:  12APR-24APR.

Bank Structure:

• DFW remains at eight banks operating on peak days with B9 cancellations on Tuesday.
• Various bank cancellations for Easter Weekend 06APR-10APR may affect flying patterns and layover lengths.

Allocations Information:

Spring Break is in full swing with the return of seasonal IPD flying and new point-to-point destinations. The company continues to ramp up flying in preparation for the summer schedule. Block hours have increased 9% from January 2023. We welcome the increase in hours as the base continues to grow with monthly vacancy transfers and new hire Flight Attendant arrivals. Crew planning has indicated that it plans to grow DFW for the foreseeable future.

April is a 31-day contractual month. The schedule change on April 4th generates equipment swaps, departure adjustments and new flying opportunities. We are hopeful with the continued delivery of 787 aircraft this spring; our IPD flying will return to pre-pandemic levels.

Sit times, reserve percentages, and line averages have decreased slightly from March. Trip length distribution percentages have remained unchanged, with current optimizer programming emphasizing one and two-day pairings. We appreciate the increase in one and two-day pairings, but our complaints remain unchanged. Productive trip construction and the need for high-time quality pairings have eluded the base for too long. Most of our domestic and NIPD trips are worth slightly over the daily average, working excessive legs for little pay. We asked for two-day flying patterns of 3-1 and 1-3 legs per day, with a mix of short and long layovers. Many two-day pairings have Flight Attendants reporting early and returning late. This provides limited flexibility for commuters or double-up opportunities. High-time turns have dramatically declined due to the cross-routing of aircraft and crews. High-time turns operating daily have been an LAA staple for decades, we will keep up our fight for the return of these desirable trips.

Base leadership discussed the lack of new hire Spanish speakers and the effect on reserve assignments, as well as those senior being pulled onto reserve to satisfy the speaker availability. We have asked the company to revisit new hiring training protocols to qualify potential Spanish speakers going forward. We also asked that the company try to push down the number of NIPD to be purer, which could result in more sit times due to NIPD schedules. The company agreed to try to create pure NIPD sequences without the excessive sit time.

As summer approaches, we will continue to stress to the company the importance of flexibility for our members in managing work/home obligations and quality of life.

DFW received 374,514 block hours for April, an increase of 12,256 hours from March. STL satellite has 4,451 hours, whereas AUS will have 1,488 hours for April.

3FA and 4FA Sequence Durations:

• 1-Day: 30.1%
• 2-Day: 35.6%
• 3-Day: 29.7%
• 4-Day: 4.6%

3FA and 4FA Overnight Rest Distribution:

• Overnight Rest 11-12 hours: 4.0%
• Overnight Rest 12-14 hours: 30.4%
• Overnight Rest 14-16 hours: 24.8%
• Overnight Rest 16-24 hours: 32.5%
• Overnight Rest 24-34 hours: 8.2%

3FA & 4FA Productivity:

• Credit Hours per Calendar Day: 5:01 hours
• Schedule Block Hours per Calendar Day: 4:27 hours
• Credit Hours per Duty Period: 5.32 hours

3FA & 4FA Sit Times:

• 2 Hours: 18.2%
• 2.5 Hours: 10.1%
• 3 Hours: 2.6%

3FA & 4FA Leg Distribution:

• 1-Leg: 30.5%
• 2-Leg: 46.7%
• 3-Leg: 21.5%
• 4-Legs: 1.3%

3FA & 4FA Duty Distribution:
Duty length is calculated including sign-in and release time.

• 3 hours or less of duty: 1.3%
• 3 to 4 hours of duty: 7.8%
• 4 to 5 hours of duty: 15.4%
• 5 to 6 hours of duty: 7.3%
• 6 to 7 hours of duty: 5.4%
• 7 to 8 hours of duty: 9.9%
• 8 to 9 hours of duty: 14.9%
• 9 to 10 hours of duty: 11.8%
• 10 to 11 hours of duty: 11.8%
• 11 to 12 hours of duty: 12.7%
• Greater than 12 hours: 1.5%

3FA & 4FA Block Distribution:

• 3 hours or less: 16.3%
• 3 to 4 hours: 19.3%
• 4 to 5 hours: 13.9%
• 5 to 6 hours: 18.4%
• 6 to 7 hours: 17.2%
• 7 to 8 hours: 11.3%
• 8 to 9 hours: 3.4%
• 9 hours or greater: 0.1%

DFW Combined Operation Percentage of Sequences:
All equipment – All positions

• 1-Day: 24.9%
• 2-Day: 30.3%
• 3-Day: 37.9%
• 4-Day: 5.3%
• 5-Day: 1.5%
• 6-Day: 0.1%

Designated email for Allocations and Manning questions and concerns:
[email protected]

---

Save the Date!

Systemwide Picketing
Tuesday, April 4th, 2023
11:00 am-1:00 pm (local time)

APFA Contract ACTION Team Sign Up

In Solidarity,

Amber De Roxtra
APFA DFW Base President
(682) 422-7179
[email protected]

Amy Knox Green
APFA DFW Base Vice President
(972) 696-9766
[email protected]