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2 The U.S. Airline Industry and Pilot Commuting
Pages 21-44

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From page 21...
... airline industry and the policies and practices that are likely to have an effect on pilots' commuting choices. This discussion draws on the expertise of committee members, information from stakeholders who provided comments at committee meetings or through the study website (see Box 1-3 in Chapter 1)
From page 22...
... For many pilots, commuting is not a daily occurrence, as pilot duty assignments often extend over several days and keep pilots away from home for multiple days at a time. As a result, a pilot's commute to work may be undertaken as infrequently as once or twice per month -- or more frequently, depending on the flying schedule and commuting arrangements.
From page 23...
... The key issue for safety is whether a pilot begins the subsequent duty rested and fit to fly regardless of how the pilot commutes to work. Although some pilots live at or close to their domiciles, other pilots live in a location that has never been a company domicile, maintaining a consistent residence as their assigned domicile changes from one airport to another.
From page 24...
... Box 2-1 summarizes the benefits of commuting for pilots, airlines, and consumers. STAKEHOLDERS' COMMENTS As described in Chapter 1, requests for input data were sent to a variety of different stakeholders in the airline industry (see Box 1-2 in Chapter 1)
From page 25...
... In addition to self-selecting whether to respond, respondents self-selected the questions or topics to which they responded. One important initial finding from both of these reviews is that there is no clear, consistent definition of pilot commuting in the airline industry.
From page 26...
... In order of reported frequency, from high to low, they included high cost of living near the domicile location; frequent domicile closings and future unpredictability of the airline industry; cost and availability of adjunct sleep accommodations; desire to maintain family stability; low pay, especially for regional carriers; lifestyle preferences (e.g., for good weather and outdoor living) ; and absence of adequate coverage for costly moving expenses.
From page 27...
... In many cases, pilots who join a regional carrier hope to change employment to a mainline carrier after they have accumulated additional flight experience. Recent contractions and consolidations among several of the mainline airlines and changes in the mandatory pilot retirement age have arguably reduced the outlook for positions at mainline carriers.
From page 28...
... The pilot living near the domicile will likely work fewer days to accumulate the 80 flight hours for the month; the pilot with a long distance commute will have more work days and fewer days off to accumulate the same number of flight hours. Airline Route Networks and Crew Basing Decisions that airlines make about aircraft routings, crew schedules, and crew basing can affect pilots' commuting incentives.
From page 29...
... As on-duty travel (as distinct from commuting travel) , depending on the timing of the flights and as required by regulations governing flight time, duty time, and rest, the company may be required to provide adequate facilities and time for rest between the positioning flight to the duty location and the pilot's first operational flight.
From page 30...
... An important industry change that could affect pilot commuting is the rise of the regional jet in dustry and the extent to which regional jet service operated under contract to mainline carriers has replaced service in larger jets operated directly by mainline carriers. The rise of the regional jet industry is a relatively recent development (see Oster and Strong, 2006)
From page 31...
... Although some of this regional jet service was on routes that had not previously been served by the mainline carriers, much of the service was a replacement of mainline jet service by regional jet service. The growth of regional airlines at the expense of mainline airlines may change the overall pilot commuting patterns in the airline industry if the commuting patterns of regional pilots are markedly different than those of mainline pilots.
From page 32...
... Since these regional airlines typically operate under contract with mainline airlines, it remains to be seen how much effect, if any, these regional airline mergers will have on pilot commuting patterns. To the extent that mergers in the regional segment of the industry result in large regional airlines that operate under contract with multiple mainline carriers that operate hubs in different parts of the country, the mergers have the potential to change commuting patterns by regional pilots as pilots assigned to one mainline carrier's hub are assigned to a different mainline carrier's hub.
From page 33...
... Rise of Regional Jets In examining the data, it quickly becomes apparent that the role of affiliated regional carriers has a large impact on mainline service patterns. Three of the mainline carriers, Southwest, Air Tran, and JetBlue, do not use affiliated regional carriers, and all showed growth in departures throughout the period.
From page 34...
... Although these changes in departures reflect changing service patterns, they are not the dramatic changes that have been seen at some of the carriers involved in mergers, as is discussed below. There is considerable variation in departure changes across the regional carriers.
From page 35...
... Beginning in 2010, Atlantic Southeast has also been providing services Figure 2-4.eps associated with United Airlines. redrawn In contrast, Air Wisconsin has experienced greater change in its ser vice patterns: see Figure 2-6.
From page 36...
... The Air Wisconsin experience illustrates how changes in contracts be tween the regional airlines and the mainline airlines can result in large changes in regional operations at specific hub airports, with associated changes in re
From page 37...
... Air Wisconsin effectively moved its entire operation to a different part of the country so that virtually all of its pilots experienced changes in their domiciles. Mergers In addition to the rise of affiliated regional airlines, mergers also played an important role in the changing service patterns of the mainline airlines.
From page 38...
... Regardless of the reason that hubs are sharply downsized or eliminated, such actions can put pressure on pilots either to relocate or to alter their commuting patterns. Flight departures are correlated with airline crew staffing requirements.
From page 39...
... Although some airlines allow pilots to reserve the flight deck jumpseat in advance, other carriers require pilots to stand by for the jumpseat until it is awarded to the senior requestor 30 minutes before flight time. Under these procedures, only the most senior pilots would be able to rely on obtaining a jumpseat for their commutes.
From page 40...
... Some cargo and charter carriers that engage in home basing reported to the committee that they provided reserved seats for the trip to the pilot's duty location and provided minimum rest periods of 4-9 hours, depending on the carrier, between the arrival of the commuting flight and commencement of preflight activities for a pilot's operational flight. Although nonrevenue travel dramatically lowers the cost of commuting for pilots, it has the disadvantage of the uncertainty of standing by for open seats, especially given recently experienced record load factors.3 Figure 2-9 shows the changes in system-wide domestic load factors from 2000 through 2010.
From page 41...
... carrier domestic load factors. SOURCE: Data from Bureau of Transportation Statistics (n.d.-b)
From page 42...
... Sick Leave and Attendance/Reliability Policies Regulations require the individual pilot to assess his or her fitness to fly and require pilots to decline to fly whenever unable to meet medical certification requirements (i.e., they are sick)
From page 43...
... . Atlantic Southeast Airlines provided, in a submission to the committee, an excerpt from its Flight Operations Manual that "the use of sick leave when commute difficulties are encountered is a violation of Atlantic Southeast policy and could subject the pilot to discipline." Regardless of stated policy, airlines recognize that this use or abuse of sick leave does occur.
From page 44...
... 44 THE EFFECTS OF COMMUTING ON PILOT FATIGUE fatigue situations per year that are associated with commuting." However, no systemic, reliable information from any airline was available to the committee about the effects, if any, of commuting on pilots' reliably arriving at their domicile on time for duty or about the effects, if any, of commuting on either fatigue or fatigue calls.


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