Charlotte Paris Route

[signals]

Only the French require this visa for crews from the United States. It's a reaction to some stupid bureaucratic requirement that US Customs and Immigration has imposed on foreign crews coming onto U.S. soil. It's startlingly obvious to anyone that, while U.S. crews going overseas are treated mostly with respect and swiftness, foreign crews coming here have to jump through many more hoops to simply do their job.

As much as a pain it is to get this visa, I certainly can't blame the French for this minor tit-for-tat.

Thanx for the clarification and agreed!

If only the USA would do that to all foreign buyers and products instead of singling out and playing favorites.

 

[jcw]

Before everyone continues to get bent out of shape, lets make sure we have an understanding of the situation. How many int'l 767 pilots actually live in Philly? They could just commute to CLT for the CDG flights.
How much training would be required to certify CLT based pilots for the flights?

How long will the 767's be around?. In a few years they will be sunset. If CLT to CDG is successful this summer it could be replaced with a A330-200 the following year and then could use CLT based crews.

This is probably an economical decision that is intended to help US make money in a bad economy.

 

[Freighterguynow]

And a deadhead down in the summer with the ramp closed in PHL for thunderstorms. This will be interesting.

It'll be a 4 day trip with the DH on day 1 and departure on day 2.

 

[Freighterguynow]

Since the flight is a 767, they would also have to open a CLT 767 International crew base and then pay to train CLT 767 crews to do international operations. That would cost significantly more than the $80 Schengen (not French) visa.

And, since the press release says the service is seasonal, what would they do with all those internationally trained pilots in the winter? Pay them extra to fly domestic trips (when they already have sufficient crews to cover the domestic schedule?)

It makes no sense at all to train CLT crews for international operations for ONE SEASONAL city pair.

Plus build in reserve pilot staffing to cover that single departure ....