ABX furloughs 12

[DC-9er]

It would also be nice if some of the furloughee who have been out for a while were recalled too.

let's hope it happens, and they get recalled here. What a blunder those furlough notices were! My hats off to Danny and the union also. Those meetings obviously were productive.

 

[LarryinTN]

I had heard that three of the seven PFEs on the furlough list were qualified to upgrade. Three plus the four SOs would make seven, not six, so perhaps one of the three is opting for the 767 and two going for the DC9.

If course, nothing is preventing any of the more senior upgrade-qualified PFEs from bidding any of these upgrades.

PFE upgrades haven't had much luck lately so it'll be interesting to see how this turns out.

When I've asked PFEs about how many more will attempt upgrade the answers have always been rather low. Four or five comes to mind. Most of the PFEs who really wanted to upgrade did so several years ago. We may now be left with guys who are doing it out of necessity rather than a real desire to be a pilot.

 

[LarryinTN]

Sounds like the six comes from the four S/Os plus two additional upgrade-qualifed PFE who were not on the furlough list. The three upgrade-qualified PFEs on the furlough list don't need a vacancy to try an upgrade when they are being furloughed.

 

[abxaviator]

Well, it's official, no SO's were furloughed, they all started 9 FO training yesterday along with the pilot qualified PFE's and 1 PFE in 767 class. Non-qualified PFE's released and, no doubt, more will be in the fututre.

 

[AV8OR]

Not understanding your system all that well, I'm gonna assume that's good news for everyone over there. Glad to hear it worked out.

 

[LarryinTN]

SO's are pilots who are on the panel of the DC8. We no longer have any SO's. PFE are professional flight engineers. All PFEs were senior to all SOs so they couldn't furlough PFEs which SOs in place. The SOs either had to be furloughed first or they'd have to upgrade to an FO slot.

The DC8 flying is being reduced so they had too many people on the panel of the DC8. They announced a furlough of the bottom 12 which included the only 5 SOs and seven PFEs.

One of those SOs was over age 60 so we couldn't upgrade. He retired. The remaining four SOs are in DC9 F/O class.

Three of of the seven PFEs had the minimums to take an upgrade class so they are in DC9 F/O class (2) or 767 F/O class (1).

Obviously, more PFEs will eventually be furloughed as the fleet is eventually retired as it's our only airplane with a flight engineer. No idea when that will be.
Two other PFEs bid an upgrade so I'm not sure if those two offset two of the PFE furloughs. Either two or four PFEs have been furloughed.

The latest plan that I've heard is that starting in August the DC8 is down to one city (both day and night flights). At some point the DC8 will not have any cities but will be the system backup when a 767 goes offline for maintainance, extra sections, recoveries, etc. The DC8 staffing is down to about 25 crews.