You're listening to fly by night. A podcast
by Fedex Pilots for Fedex Pilots.
Brought to you by the Fedex Master Executive
Council of the Airline Pilots Association. And now
here's your host, Nec Communications chair, Captain Chris
lee. My guest today are scope committee chair,
Captain Sal Font,
Scope committee vice chair, first officer Dan Silva,
and Scope committee member, first officer Luis Qui.
Thanks for coming. Thanks for having, Chris. Hey,
Thanks for having us. Thanks, Chris.
Well, Sal, let's start with you.
Well, first of all, I would like to
thank, all, all the pilots out in the
line for
for the volume of darts we're receiving.
The scope committee right now is averaging
probably over a dart a day.
We're trying to be pretty good about answering
those darts,
we're seeing a turnaround of, probably less than
24 hours.
And you guys are eyes out there, and
we appreciate all the information you're sending. We're
also committed to continue or the occasional campaign,
and
be on the lookout for a more material
coming out.
Dan, the last scope podcast was released in
January.
Can you update the pilots on any recent
events developments in the scope world.
Well, thanks again for having us, Chris, and
thanks for the pilots for listening this.
Since our last visit the scope committee has
been diligently working behind the scenes. Our primary
focus is safeguard
master senior list pilot jobs.
We ensure that if freight needs to be
transported by air. It's done so on planes
operated by our pilots in accordance with the
Cb.
To accomplish this, we require access information, which
historically, we've had pretty limited access to.
However, thanks to our volunteers in the dart
reports we received from line pilots we've developed
a method of tracking and verifying network changes.
This tracking capability allows us to see how
our schedule is constructed and how the company
arrange the air network, it also sheds light
on their utilization of third party lift for
freight movements.
Please keep the darts coming. They're incredibly helpful.
Also, when we get a dart showing Fedex
containers being loaded on another carrier, We can
see how it's moved within our system. This
is how we were able to notify the
pilots about the company's expanded use of 1B4
provisions, commonly referred to as belly freight. Out
of Honolulu, and as the company just recently
acknowledged the transition of the Bengal to do
dubai route to indigo cargo air.
And when the company operates the way you
just described, how do they justify it?
In the case of Honolulu,
specifically, Section 1 4 of our Cb allows
for the company to move freight utilizing a
variety of methods, the most visible of which
is, of course. Belly freight or freight on
passenger carriers.
Episode 2 of the scope education series covered
this in more detail, but to quickly recap,
the company can purchase space on other carriers
outside the contiguous 48 states to move freight,
quote, as required.
We've received information and then verified that 1
of these carriers is a aloha air cargo
out of Honolulu. In addition to all the
cargo being shipped on passenger airlines.
Well, how does this work outside the Us?
The company has even more leeway since they
can also engage in full outsourcing as is
the case with Indigo being contracted to operate
the Bengal route.
The company has also ramped up the utilization
of capacity purchase agreements with international carriers both
cargo and passenger routes out of India. This
has led to an overall decrease in Ms
l flying in this region, which happens to
be 1 of the fastest growing in global
economic importance. And a developing strategic manufacturing hub.
Traditionally, the company has said that they would
rather utilize company assets to move high priority
freight and utilize, quote, belly rate for lower
value deferred cargo or for markets that can't
justify a dedicated Fedex flight.
They've even recently doubled down on this rate
with their tri network
explanation.
As we've stated in our recent communication, it's
not just low yield economy products being shipped
by other carriers, but also international priority freight.
As to why the company would choose to
do this, we enter the realm of speculation
it's of great concern to us that the
practice is increasing while B on many of
our fleets are below contractual minimums
and aircraft are parked in storage.
But
When the company talks about the decrease in
master senior lists flying in Europe,
they usually blame low volumes as to why
flying being diverted to Asl.
Can you talk about that some?
Sure.
First, it's important to emphasize that we as
pilots have no control over the company's fleet
planning.
Also, we must analyze the following facts. We
are now over the 3 year mark of
contract negotiations.
We've seen our overall hours decrease. And the
size of our pilot for shrink partially due
to attrition in resignation.
Initially, this reduction was attributed due to the
softer demand environment post Covid.
In Europe, specifically, the company said that volumes
were so low that it warranted smaller aircraft.
Therefore, 07:30 sevens operated by Asl and feeder.
As air cargo demand has started to recover,
especially this year, we have failed to see
that flying return to our pilots.
In fact, loads in Europe are showing gradual
improvement, and we're seeing multiple
combinations of Asl and feeder aircraft being deployed
on routes instead of returning it to hour
07:50 sevens. In Asia and the Middle East,
we are now seeing the same playbook being
used.
Purple tales are pulled from routes and replaced
with capacity purchase agreements, or flat out outsourcing
like the case with Indigo out of Bengal.
The vice president of Flight ops states that
India is a market they intend to expand
while in the same letter announcing that this
expansion is favoring the use of the global
partner network.
The fact that these replacements are occurring is
concerning and raises more quest.
We will continue to sort through data to
get some answers to those questions.
Well Luis, the Ipa recently published a contract
comparison that caused a lot of conversation, especially
among our pilots. Can you talk to the
pilots some about the differences between our contract
and Ipa contract?
Sure, Chris. Thanks again for having us.
First, we have to emphasize that there's philosophical
differences in how the Ipa approaches scope.
If you look at their contract, their focus
is on the freight.
Our approach is more about the flying than
the actual freight that is loaded on the
aircraft.
There are also key differences in definitions. What
we call wet leasing and belly freight, that
could be 1 before, 1B6 and 1B7 in
our contract, they call sub contracting and common
carrier limits.
Ups also defines domestic as any flying that
touches the entire United States, not just a
contiguous 48 states,
regardless of whether it originated or terminated within
the United States,
and they call international, any flying conducted solely
outside of the United States.
We'll talk to the pilots some about the
core differences in their scope when it's compared
to our scope.
Alright. For example, Ups is limited in the
amount of time that they can utilize wet
leases
and the calendar period.
Basically, they can only utilize this during peak,
If management wishes to exceed these limits, they
must first reach out to the Ipa for
a mutual agreement.
The Ipa is not permitted to un reasonably
deny these requests for extensions.
This contrasts with our contract in which any
exceed of the limits set in the Cb
has to be overcome by the company making
excess wet lease penalty payments.
With regards to our 1B4
or belly freight,
Ups has limits on the number of containers
that can be loaded on a commercial carrier,
referred to under contract as common carriage limits.
And these limits are both per flight, per
week and vary depending on the market.
Our Cb on the other hand limits this
based on geography.
So domestic versus international, but no set amount
of container or payload limits.
Internationally as defined by our contract, Fedex is
allowed to utilize 1 before provisions to move
freight on other airlines, including cargo carriers,
quote, as required.
We get a lot of questions about extra
territorial flying in the Ups contract does address
that. Can you talk about this some more?
Sure, Chris, the issue of extra territory flying
is on a lot of our pilot's radar,
especially after the closure of the colon cologne
Fda and the drawdown of the Ms cell
intra Europe flying.
While this is the most visible example of
the company shifting flying that used to be
done by Fedex pilots to foreign operators.
It is by no means the biggest threat.
In fact,
a large percentage of our flying is extra
territorial,
and
in the triple 7 fleet, for example, it
exceeds a third of their flying.
This is flying that is done entirely outside
the United States.
Attempting to protect extra territorial flying is a
complex subject because it is not clearly inside
the jurisdiction of the railway Labor Act.
And therefore, not a mandatory subject of bargaining.
There are also legal concerns about enforcing commitments
regarding extra territorial flying even if the company
agrees to negotiate over the issue.
The Ipa and Ups have agreed to protect
a significant amount of extra a territorial of
flying in their Cb
and have provisions in place on how to
address disputes arising because of this. The To
our knowledge,
so far, there has not been a dispute
between the parties regarding extra territory flying that
has resulted in the courts weighing in on
the issue.
Per the Ups cb, the company is required
to utilize company aircraft and Ms missile pilots
whenever feasible in international markets both for existing
routes, and for new routes management may wish
to open.
However, there are some complex carve outs and
limitations to provide Ups with some flexibility to
their international market.
They also have contractual limits to ensure that
their supply chain solutions subsidiary,
which makes recommendations based on available lift doesn't
negatively impact Ipa flying.
So, Chris, while reviewing the Ipa contract comparison,
we found their information accurate when looked at
from their perspective.
However, Fedex pilots need to consider the key
differences in definitions and scope philosophies.
As well as structural differences between the 2
companies.
Thanks, Louise and Dan.
Sal, I'll close with you. Any final thoughts?
Well, we're encouraged by the palace engagement with
scope issues and appreciate all the darts we've
received from palo flying the line.
Well, we have certain tracking capabilities we're still
depending our pilots being our eyes and ears
on the line. So please,
and I apologize to sound repetitive, but please
keep the darts coming. Thanks very much.
Thanks again, everyone. And thanks for listening. If
you have any question please go to our
website, fd d x dot alpha dot org
and utilize the dart link. And as always,
be safe out there and we'll see you
next time. And