QPC Briefing No. 46 2026
Reduction in Numbers: EA10 and Proposed EA11
Reduction in Numbers (RIN) provisions are an important protection for pilots when fleet or operational changes result in the management of a surplus. They have been used previously with the B747 and B767 retirements and, with the retirement of the A380 fleet approaching, will become relevant again in the life of EA11. The eventual retirement of the A330 fleet means these provisions will remain important beyond the immediate A380 transition.
Given this, it is important that pilots understand both how the existing EA10 provisions operate and how they would change under the proposed EA11.
RIN under EA10
The RIN provisions in EA10 evolved around a pay structure that differs considerably between fleets.
On the airbus fleets, pilots generally progress through pay scales according to years of service. Where a pilot is moved between categories through a RIN, their years of service determine their position on the applicable pay scale in the new category.
The B787 is different. Its pay structure was introduced without the same years-of-service model. As part of the arrangements associated with the introduction of those scales, EA10 specifically provides that pilots forced onto the B787 through a RIN enter the applicable scale at year 4 (see clause 32.5.6).
The protection of level 4 pay when required to move to the B787 in EA10 is an important protection and, for many pilots affected by a future RIN, can significantly reduce the financial consequences of an involuntary transfer.
However, there are some important limitations to the EA10 provisions that have generated understandable confusion.
Under EA10 a RIN does not necessarily create access to promotion
Some misunderstanding arises from the difference between how pilots might reasonably expect a RIN to operate and what EA10 actually requires Qantas to do.
EA10 does not require Qantas to combine affected categories into a single RIN. Nor does it prevent the Company from conducting separate RINs affecting the same fleet in stages.
Consequently, the positions made available in a particular RIN are restricted to pilots in the category affected by that RIN. Pilots named in a separate RIN would not necessarily have access to those positions.
Further, the redeployment positions offered to named RIN’d pilots are at the discretion of Qantas (18.1.13(v)). Qantas can designate which positions are available for redeployment and limit this to particular categories and bases.
For example, Qantas could conduct concurrent RINs for a designated number of surplus A380 First Officers and A380 Second Officers. This might align with the exit of an A380 airframe.
The FO RIN might limit FO redeployment positions to the FO positions on the B787, A330 and A350, while the SO RIN might offer only redeployment SO positions on those fleets. In that situation, an A380 SO participating in the SO RIN would not have access to the FO positions being offered.
Further, Qantas may offer redeployment positions in only designated bases of its choosing. Qantas current position is if it offers a position in base (so for e.g. A380 SO a B787 SO redeployment position in SYD) then if the pilot elects to take redeployment to a different base, relocation expenses are not provided.
While the displacement provisions can allow a pilot to displace a more junior pilot in another category, they do not allow a RIN’d pilot to displace a pilot holding a higher status (e.g a SO accessing an FO position) (unless the RIN’d pilot would be demoted or face termination), irrespective of their relative seniority.
This distinction becomes particularly important when considering suggestions that EA10 could allow an SO affected by a RIN to both gain promotion and, if moving to the B787, enter the FO pay scale at year four.
That outcome is technically possible, but only if Qantas chooses to include B787 FO positions among the positions offered through the SO RIN or a RIN happens to overlap an allocation of B787 vacancies and a RIN’d pilot can be awarded a promotion. Nothing in EA10 requires Qantas to do so.
If Qantas limits access to positions during the RINs to only in rank moves as EA10 permits, FO positions could be confined to the FO RIN and therefore be unavailable to affected SOs.
Promotion through an EA10 RIN should therefore be understood as a theoretical possibility rather than an entitlement upon which affected pilots can rely.
Displacement and promotion under EA10
It is important to understand how displacement and promotion work in the EA10 RIN provisions.
EA10 provides a pilot affected by a RIN with a relatively broad seniority-based displacement right. Subject to clause 16, an affected pilot may exercise their seniority to displace a more junior pilot in any category and base.
EA10 contains a limited exception to this rule. An affected pilot may displace a pilot in a higher status where the affected pilot would otherwise be demoted to a lower status or have their employment terminated.
It is important that pilots understand that even if named in a RIN, you cannot ordinarily use the RIN displacement provisions to displace a pilot in a higher status.
In practical terms, this means an affected pilot may use their seniority to displace a more junior pilot in a category of equivalent or lower status. For example, an A380 First Officer affected by a RIN could potentially displace a more junior First Officer on another fleet in a particular base. An A380 Second Officer could similarly displace a more junior Second Officer in another category and base.
An affected SO cannot, however, ordinarily use the displacement provisions to displace a more junior First Officer simply because the affected SO is senior to that pilot on the seniority list. The First Officer position is a higher status.
This element is particularly important when considering the suggestion that an A380 SO affected by a RIN could simply use their seniority to move onto the B787 as a First Officer and receive the year 4 B787 RIN pay rate.
EA10 does not provide a general entitlement to do this. Unless the specific exception relating to demotion or termination applies, the RIN displacement provisions cannot be used by an SO to displace an FO, or an FO to displace a Captain.
A promotion may nevertheless be available through the RIN process where Qantas makes a higher-status position available as a redeployment position in the RIN process. This is different from exercising the displacement right. In that circumstance, EA10 does not expressly prevent the pilot from accepting the higher-status position, however this relies on Qantas making these positions available.
This creates an unusual potential outcome under EA10. If an SO were offered and accepted promotion to B787 First Officer as part of a RIN, the existing B787 RIN pay provision could result in that pilot entering the B787 FO scale at year 4 and having no type freeze.
That outcome is possible under the wording of EA10, but it is not a right or entitlement upon which an affected SO can rely. It depends on Qantas making higher-status position available through the RIN process.
In practice, nothing compels the company to offer higher-status positions as part of a particular RIN, or to run a RIN that offers RIN’d pilot across categories access to higher status redeployment positions.
The Company has signalled its intention to avoid this outcome by limiting access to redeployment positions in higher status, as occurred in the Melbourne A380 base closure. Pilots should give this due consideration both for their future movements and for consideration of the proposed EA11.
Accordingly, the possibility of obtaining both promotion and year-four B787 pay under EA10 should be understood in its proper context: it is a possible outcome under the existing drafting, rather than a right available to an affected pilot.
Treatment under proposed EA11
The proposed EA11 removes this potential anomaly by expressly dealing with pilots who move to a higher status through a RIN.
Where a pilot obtains promotion as a result of a RIN (whether this is assignment, redeployment, displacement or award of a vacancy), they enter the relevant pay scale at the same level that would apply if they obtained that promotion through the normal training allocation process (year 1).
The underlying displacement protection remains important: pilots affected by a RIN retain the ability to exercise their seniority against more junior pilots in equivalent or lower statuses, subject to the provisions of the Agreement.
What changes is the pay treatment where the RIN results in a promotion. Rather than the RIN itself potentially allowing a pilot to obtain both promotion and accelerated progression through the new category's pay scale, the pilot receives the normal pay treatment associated with promotion.
It is worth keeping the practical significance of this change in perspective. The opportunity to obtain promotion through a RIN outside the normal training allocation process is already limited under EA10 because Qantas is not required to make higher-status positions available to pilots in the affected category.
The A350 issue
The introduction of the A350 creates a more immediate issue with the existing RIN provisions.
The proposed EA11 aligns the A350 more closely with the B787 pay model. That means the existing years-of-service treatment applying to the A330 and A380 cannot simply be carried across to the A350.
Qantas' initial position was that the existing B787 RIN provision could remain unchanged, meaning pilots forced onto the B787 would continue to move to year four. However, the Company did not support a corresponding provision for the A350. Under its initial position, pilots forced onto the A350 through a RIN would commence at year one.
The AFAP did not consider that outcome appropriate.
With the A380 approaching retirement, the A350 and B787 are obvious destination fleets for pilots affected by a future RIN. The AFAP's position was therefore that the existing B787 RIN protection should be mirrored on the A350.
The final negotiated position represents a compromise between those positions.
Under the proposed EA11:
- Pilots moving up a category through a RIN move to year two. This ensures that a pilot involuntarily transferred while moving to a higher category receives a pay increase.
- Pilots moving down a category through a RIN move to year four, the highest pay band. This minimises the pay differential resulting from involuntary transfer to a lower category.
- Pilots obtaining promotion through the RIN process enter the scale at the same level that would apply through a normal training allocation.
Importantly, these arrangements apply consistently across the future-fleet pay structure rather than leaving substantially different RIN outcomes depending upon whether a pilot happens to be allocated to the B787 or A350.
Legacy A380/A330 SO pay protection
EA10 does not provide meaningful pay protection for legacy SOs who may be affected by the upcoming RIN.
EA10 contains a specific B787 SO pay-protection mechanism, which protects an affected pilot by reference to the median A330 SO rate. When introduced, this was intended to provide genuine protection to SOs involuntarily transferred onto the B787.
The composition of the A330 SO cohort has since changed substantially.
The practical consequence is that a provision designed to provide pay protection now offers substantially less protection to the legacy SO cohort likely to be affected by an A380 RIN. It also does not provide an equivalent solution for an involuntary move to the A350.
Recognising the likelihood of an A380 RIN, and ultimately an A330 RIN, the legacy SO specific pay protection into the proposed EA11 has been modified.
The pay protection has been amended to provide 18 months pay protection to the median pay from the category legacy SOs came from based on all pilots that joined before October 2022 in that category from the time they check to the line.
The pay protection will continue until the lessor of 18 months from having checked to line on the B787 or A350; or a First Officer vacancy being filled on the A330, A350 or 787 by a more junior pilot (unless the pilot is deemed by the CAAC to be not operationally suitable for the vacancy).
The year-four treatment for pilots moving down a category provides legacy SOs with greater protection against the financial impact of an involuntary transfer onto the future fleets. This is particularly relevant for pilots whose existing earnings would otherwise be poorly protected by the median A330 SO mechanism contained in EA10.
What this means in practice
The RIN provisions should ultimately be assessed by reference to how they are likely to operate in practice.
EA10 contains valuable protections, particularly the existing year-four provision for pilots forced onto the B787. That is a genuine benefit of the current Agreement.
However, the existing provisions were developed for a different fleet and pay structure. They provide limited protection for legacy SOs, and the apparent opportunity for pilots to obtain both promotion and year-four B787 pay depends upon Qantas choosing to make a higher-status position available through the relevant RIN.
The proposed EA11 changes the RIN framework to reflect the transition towards the A350 and B787 fleet pay.
It does involve a trade-off. A pilot moving to a higher category onto the B787 through a RIN would receive year two rather than the year-four treatment presently provided under EA10. In exchange, the proposed provisions establish defined and consistent RIN treatment across the future fleets, ensure pilots moving to a higher category receive a pay increase, provide year-four treatment to pilots moving to a lower category, and materially improve the protection available to legacy SOs exposed to an involuntary fleet transfer.
With the A380 retirement approaching, these are not provisions dealing with a purely hypothetical future event. They are protections that are likely to determine the fleet, category and remuneration outcomes for pilots affected by the next significant RIN.
Pilots should therefore assess the changes by considering both the protection that exists under EA10 and the circumstances in which that protection can actually be accessed, alongside the broader and more consistent protections negotiated for the future fleet structure under the proposed EA11.
Questions and Feedback
If you have any questions or further feedback, please contact your AFAP Qantas Pilot Council representatives at qpc@afap.org.au, or the AFAP Legal and Industrial team:
Executive Director Simon Lutton – simon@afap.org.au
Senior Legal/Industrial Officer Patrick Larkins – patrick@afap.org.au
Senior Legal/Industrial Officer Deanna Cain – deanna@afap.org.au
Regards,
AFAP Qantas Pilot Council
Michael Egan – Chair
Mark Gilmour – Vice-Chair
Rob Close – Secretary
Michael Armessen – Committee Member
David LaPorte – Committee Member
Josh Chalmers – Committee Member
Rob Gilmour – Committee Member