The good news is the minimum layovers and crew meals are better, the bad news is that with the reduction in staffing we don't need as many flight attendants.
Title: AA / APFA Reach Breakthrough Agreement
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This is Lauri Curtis and today is Friday, October 21, 2005.
I’m very happy to share that together with the APFA, we’ve reached an agreement to improve layover rest provisions, provision flight attendant crew meals on long-range and extended long-range flights, and provide enhanced voluntary aircraft and service training options for our flight attendants.
I know that many of you are interested in the specifics associated with these changes, so let me target a few of the highlights and share them with you. The full details are outlined on the website, including implementation dates, so I encourage all of you – right up front – to visit AAFlightService.com and APFA.org.
As I mentioned, the agreement improves layover rest provisions. On the domestic side and for non-IFS/AIFS international flying, we’ve agreed to new provisions that will provide you with “eight hours behind the door†minimum rest and are comparable to the current pilot domestic layover rest rules in the actual operation.
For flying to Europe, Deep South America and Asia, we’ll move to a scheduled minimum layover of 10:30 so that it cannot fall below a ten-hour minimum in actual operations.
In terms of meal provisioning, we’ll be returning flight attendant crew meals to long-range and extended long-range flights, which covers our new Chicago-Delhi service as well as flights to and from Japan out of our DFW, Chicago and New York bases. We’ve also agreed that we’ll meet quarterly to identify other sequences that involve long duty days and the inability of flight attendants to get food. As part of these meetings, we’ve agreed to explore food options on the most egregious sequences based on catering or vendor availability.
Under the training enhancements, flight attendants will have voluntary options for acquiring additional aircraft and service qualifications offered on-line.
Because it was important to maintain cost-savings and efficiencies we’ve already achieved – and in the interest of being fair to all of the employees who’ve accepted changes to their work – there are also offsetting changes that will allow us to reach our cost goals while providing these enhancements.
Based on changes to our in-flight service and with the introduction of Buy on Board, we will make changes to our staffing formulas for Hawaii and some Transcon flights. Beginning in January 2006, the staffing formulas for these flights will decrease by one flight attendant. In December, we’ll reduce staffing by one flight attendant on domestic short-haul beverage flights under 1:30, as well. To accommodate this change, we will be adjusting the delivery of the service aboard these flights.
Beyond this agreement’s tangible changes, it also creates an understanding between the Company and APFA on how to move forward collectively to identify continuous improvement opportunities in the area of staffing. Under the agreement, we’ll work together to make joint assessments of flight attendant tasks and workload, exploring a staffing model developed for use by the APFA that is based on scientific, objective analysis.
I believe that what we’ve put together achieves the savings reached by all of our employee groups in 2003 while addressing some very real quality of work-life concerns for our flight attendants. I am confident that in achieving these, we’ve met both of those goals and taken a very important step forward in the working together process.
This agreement covers a lot of information. So I want to again encourage you to take a few moments to visit the Flight Service website, as well as www.apfa.org since we worked jointly on these communications.
We all have a stake in the future of American Airlines. Working together isn’t a temporary solution – it’s an approach to building a strong company that ensures a secure future for all of us. Pulling together really is our best asset when it comes to achieving success. We’ve got to ensure that we stay focused on our collective interests and work from those challenges toward a more solid financial foundation for our airline.
Very quickly, I want to remind all of you that the company released third-quarter financial results on Wednesday of this week. For the third quarter, we posted a loss of $153 million. Links to detailed information on Jetnet are posted on the home page of the Flight Service website. And while you’re there, take a look at the USA Today article that came out as a follow-on to our financial results. It’s a very interesting article that makes some very good points about our efforts to work together – to work differently than our competitors.
Thanks for checking in. Until next time, please fly safely and take good care
Title: AA / APFA Reach Breakthrough Agreement
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is Lauri Curtis and today is Friday, October 21, 2005.
I’m very happy to share that together with the APFA, we’ve reached an agreement to improve layover rest provisions, provision flight attendant crew meals on long-range and extended long-range flights, and provide enhanced voluntary aircraft and service training options for our flight attendants.
I know that many of you are interested in the specifics associated with these changes, so let me target a few of the highlights and share them with you. The full details are outlined on the website, including implementation dates, so I encourage all of you – right up front – to visit AAFlightService.com and APFA.org.
As I mentioned, the agreement improves layover rest provisions. On the domestic side and for non-IFS/AIFS international flying, we’ve agreed to new provisions that will provide you with “eight hours behind the door†minimum rest and are comparable to the current pilot domestic layover rest rules in the actual operation.
For flying to Europe, Deep South America and Asia, we’ll move to a scheduled minimum layover of 10:30 so that it cannot fall below a ten-hour minimum in actual operations.
In terms of meal provisioning, we’ll be returning flight attendant crew meals to long-range and extended long-range flights, which covers our new Chicago-Delhi service as well as flights to and from Japan out of our DFW, Chicago and New York bases. We’ve also agreed that we’ll meet quarterly to identify other sequences that involve long duty days and the inability of flight attendants to get food. As part of these meetings, we’ve agreed to explore food options on the most egregious sequences based on catering or vendor availability.
Under the training enhancements, flight attendants will have voluntary options for acquiring additional aircraft and service qualifications offered on-line.
Because it was important to maintain cost-savings and efficiencies we’ve already achieved – and in the interest of being fair to all of the employees who’ve accepted changes to their work – there are also offsetting changes that will allow us to reach our cost goals while providing these enhancements.
Based on changes to our in-flight service and with the introduction of Buy on Board, we will make changes to our staffing formulas for Hawaii and some Transcon flights. Beginning in January 2006, the staffing formulas for these flights will decrease by one flight attendant. In December, we’ll reduce staffing by one flight attendant on domestic short-haul beverage flights under 1:30, as well. To accommodate this change, we will be adjusting the delivery of the service aboard these flights.
Beyond this agreement’s tangible changes, it also creates an understanding between the Company and APFA on how to move forward collectively to identify continuous improvement opportunities in the area of staffing. Under the agreement, we’ll work together to make joint assessments of flight attendant tasks and workload, exploring a staffing model developed for use by the APFA that is based on scientific, objective analysis.
I believe that what we’ve put together achieves the savings reached by all of our employee groups in 2003 while addressing some very real quality of work-life concerns for our flight attendants. I am confident that in achieving these, we’ve met both of those goals and taken a very important step forward in the working together process.
This agreement covers a lot of information. So I want to again encourage you to take a few moments to visit the Flight Service website, as well as www.apfa.org since we worked jointly on these communications.
We all have a stake in the future of American Airlines. Working together isn’t a temporary solution – it’s an approach to building a strong company that ensures a secure future for all of us. Pulling together really is our best asset when it comes to achieving success. We’ve got to ensure that we stay focused on our collective interests and work from those challenges toward a more solid financial foundation for our airline.
Very quickly, I want to remind all of you that the company released third-quarter financial results on Wednesday of this week. For the third quarter, we posted a loss of $153 million. Links to detailed information on Jetnet are posted on the home page of the Flight Service website. And while you’re there, take a look at the USA Today article that came out as a follow-on to our financial results. It’s a very interesting article that makes some very good points about our efforts to work together – to work differently than our competitors.
Thanks for checking in. Until next time, please fly safely and take good care
