Welcome to the first EPC update for 2025. Firstly we would like to thank those pilots who gave their time to work over the Christmas and New Year’s periods, and for those pilots who will be working over the upcoming Easter period. Your EPC held its most recent meeting in Sydney on 19th February and this update discusses some of the items that arose from it.
All your EPC representatives were present at the meeting where we were also joined by Jess Chong from Sydney and Alberto Casal-Barreiro from Melbourne. There are currently 2 open positions on the Eastern Pilot Council which are available to nominate for via AEC Election Notice E2025/9. Anyone who is interested in joining the EPC should complete a nomination form, have it signed by a dues-paying AFAP member and submit it to the AEC. Nominations close at 12:00pm (midday) on Tuesday 11th March.
Meals
Late last year your EPC ran a survey to collect feedback from the pilot group in regards to the cold breakfast trial being run in Melbourne, and to gather data to determine whether the Sydney pilot group would also like to trial cold breakfast options. An additional question was asked on how the pilot group felt about the Meals Side Letter. During the survey period we received approximately 40 responses from Melbourne and 50 responses from Sydney.
Melbourne cold breakfast results
Of the responses from Melbourne, the largest response was a request to move to 2 cold meals with a return of 56.4% followed by continuing with 1 hot and 1 cold at 33.3%. Only 10.2% indicated a desire to return to 2 hot meals. From these results your EPC has requested the Company to implement 2 cold breakfast trays in Melbourne as soon as possible, however we haven’t been given a firm date for commencement.
Sydney cold breakfast results
Of the responses from Sydney, 60.8% of crew indicated they would like to trial the “1 hot and 1 cold” breakfast option. Your EPC has requested this from the Company and, similar to Melbourne, hope to have this in place as soon as possible. Once the trial has been underway for a few months we will run another survey to determine what the Sydney pilot group would like moving forward.
Side letter results
The survey results show that a slight majority (56.3%) of pilots do not consume the hotel refreshment. We also found that a large majority (69.8%) of pilots do not support the rollover of the “Breakfast from Outports 2019” side letter and would like to see it revoked. As such, your EPC has informed the Company under clause 6.1 of the side letter that we intend to terminate it and revert back to the applicable clauses in the 2023 EBA.
This process requires 1 month notice and the side letter will officially cease on March 24th. At this point meal allowances will be payable if a meal isn’t provided prior to the first landing ex-overnight, including duties with only 1 sector back from an outport. Your EPC and the Company are in discussions on how meals will be provided to meet this requirement in the future.
Rostering
Annual Leave
Primary round bidding for annual leave has recently closed. There was some incorrect information on the AAB which stated that crew who didn’t bid or achieve at least 4 weeks of leave would be allocated 4 weeks of leave prior to Variation round starting. This is incorrect and leave will only be allocated once Variation round has finished, to achieve a minimum of 4 weeks per pilot.
Any pilots who didn’t bid or received leave that they don’t want will be able to modify their allocations during Variation round. We expect the draft annual leave plan to be available in late March, and Variation to run the majority of April. A reminder to any crew who want to vary their leave that Variation round is first in, best dressed.
Golden Days
We are pleased to announce the Company have agreed to an increase in the number of Golden Days that pilots are entitled to under clause 46.6. Pilots are now entitled to 4 Golden Days per calendar year, up from 2. The main driver for this is the introduction of Jeppesen Crew Rostering (JCR) and how it allocates RDOs. This essentially enables 4 guaranteed days off when applied for in accordance with the EBA. A reminder that Gold Days are drawn from your annual leave balance and that a single day is 8.9 hours of leave due to 10 days off per roster.
Bidding window
Your EPC and the Company have reached an agreement to open the bidding windows for Eastern Pilots up to 12 months in advance. This change has already taken effect and we can confirm that no change will occur as to how bids are processed. There is still a deadline for when bids close, and the JCR system is set up to follow Lifestyle Bidding. The main reason for this move is so crew can place day off bids well into the future. The intention is that Workforce Planning/Training will be able to see any potential conflicts and schedule around it where appropriate, however this is not guaranteed and all bids are still subject to Training/Checking requirements and individual bid success.
JCR rostering system vs manual build
Last year the Company introduced a new rostering system called Jeppesen Crew Rostering (JCR) to build pairings and assign duties. We have received questions from pilots wondering why some bids are not successful despite being high priority. Traditionally the pairings were built by a software, and bids were manually assigned by Workforce Planning according to strict seniority and bid number, which is the basis of Lifestyle Bidding.
JCR is set up to follow this principle but works with a slightly different methodology. In the JCR system, pilots and their bids are assigned “points” based on their seniority and bid number, with bid #1 being worth the most and bids #9/10 being worth the least. The software then attempts to maximise the number of points per pilot while complying with EBA and FRMS rules which take precedence and are worth more points.
As such, pilots may see a reduction in bid success with high bids if the overall result is that more bids (ie points) are achieved for that particular pilot. It will also attempt to maximise the amount of points across the entire pilot group to try and maximise bid success for everyone. JCR also treats bids 1-4 individually, with each bid decreasing in value, and assigns bids 5/6, 7/8 and 9/10 the same number of points for that particular pair.
EBA
DHA/DHAA Election
Pilots recently were notified via AAB that they were able to change their DHA/DHAA election as part of DHAA opt-in under clause 40.11. This process has recently closed and any pilot who elected to change from DHA to DHAA (or vice versa) will see this change from the First Full Pay Period (FFPP) after April 1st 2025. This means the first week it will take effect is from Monday 7th April. For any pilot who didn’t nominate, you will continue to receive the current form of DHA or DHAA and will not be able to change until the next election period in early 2026.
International Training 2006 side letter
Some pilots undergoing conversion or upgrade training may be required to conduct some or all of their training overseas. Currently, this is taking place in Japan. For the purpose of reconciling allowances, domestic allowances (those payable on overnights) are applicable until arrival in the international port. Once in-country, allowances are payable (per day) according to the table below, and once onboard a flight back to Australia domestic allowances become applicable again. This table is from Tax Determination TD 2024/3 and Japan is currently cost group 5.
Table 7: Reasonable amounts for overseas travel expenses – employee’s annual salary
$143,651 to $255,670
| Cost group |
Meals ($) |
Incidentals ($)
|
Total ($) |
1
|
95 |
25 |
120 |
2
|
130 |
35 |
165 |
| 3
|
175 |
40 |
215 |
| 4 |
215 |
45 |
260 |
| 5 |
290 |
50 |
340 |
| 6 |
360 |
50 |
410 |
Bypass pay
Your EPC has received questions from several pilots undergoing conversion training in relation to bypass pay and when it is applicable. Your EPC has the view that bypass should be “1-for-1” and cascade until seniority is restored. We have raised this with the Company at length who are reviewing affected pilots with IR. We hope to have more information for those affected shortly.
Missing ground duty items (payslip reconciliation)
There has been a recent report of non-FDP (ground) duties at home base not displaying correctly on the iFlight Allowance Summary report. This is in breach of EBA clause 40.6 which requires pilots to be able to conduct a FULL reconciliation of their payslip.
When investigated it appears that DHA and DHAA are being paid correctly, and the issue is solely related to the Allowance Summary Report. The Company have taken this away to raise a ticket with IT so that a fix can be implemented. In the meantime, if you have any doubts about your payslips please reach out to your SBP for clarification.
Safety and Technical
RNP-AR CBT training
It has come to your EPC’s attention that crew are no longer being rostered time to complete the RNP-AR CBT and exam on Workday prior to their RNP-AR sim exercise 4604. This is despite it being a prerequisite component required to conduct the sim session.
Your EPC requested clarification from the Company regarding this and their position is that crew are able to complete the CBT and exam in the briefing time allocated for the sim duty. It is expected that the entire 6 hour session will not be utilised and therefore the 1 hour paid study is incorporated into the duty. This does not limit crew who wish to self study prior to the briefing, and crew who choose to complete the CBT during the briefing will not be disadvantaged or prohibited from conducting the sim upon successful completion.
FOQA update
The QantasLink safety department appeared at the latest meeting to discuss a renewal of the FOQA Deed of Agreement. While largely administrative in nature due to the age of the Deed, the Company also wanted to discuss a modification to the events list.
The largest change is associated with the Classic Fleet being retired, and there no longer being a need for those specific events. Some proposed changes include aligning events to the CASA MOS, ATSB reportable limits or FCOM limits to prevent normal operations triggering FOQA. New events will be introduced to monitor stable approaches and flight paths. This will include a modification to the rates of descent section and the introduction of new data point which monitors tailwind on landing.
Membership
MBF update
Matt Nielsen from the AFAP MBF was able to join our meeting to present on some upcoming proposed changes to the MBF. The proposed changes are significant as the last major change occurred in 2012.
As part of these changes, pilots will be happy to know will be no removal of the refund of contributions; instead the refund amount will increase to $75k. There is a planned increase to the maximum cover benefit, up to $1.2 million and the death benefit would increase to $400k. Contributions would change slightly from a large increase every few years, to a small annual increase. If voted in, the majority of these changes are expected to come into effect in 2026 and pilots should receive an explanation pack which provides further details in the near future.
For any pilot who is not currently an MBF member, please head over to the website and sign up! The EBA currently covers your premiums up to approximately $3,000 per year (clause 40.2) and is handled through a bulk-billing system. This means you will not need to pay out-of-pocket unless your premium is greater than what the EBA covers. This money is then refunded after 20 years of membership if there are no claims made!
Sunstate external hires
Your EPC would like to acknowledge that some Eastern pilots are currently being disadvantaged by external hires into Sunstate. Their training is being conducted prior to converting all existing pilots (both Eastern and Sunstate) and is effectively taking away resources that could be used for conversion. The Company have stated this is occurring due to a lack of resourcing in Brisbane.
Your EPC understands that this is frustrating and we want you to know that we are advocating for your training to be commenced as soon as possible. Additionally, we have asked the Company to pay all affected pilots the Q400 pay rates to help alleviate the disadvantage. The Company have indicated the final conversion course is due around July however we will keep trying to improve that timeline for anyone affected.
Conclusion
Thank you for taking the time to read this update, we hope you have found it informative. If you have any further questions or feedback please contact any of your EPC representatives below. As always, safe and happy flying from your EPC!
Your Eastern Council:
Ben Moss (Chair/Rostering/EBA) 0448 334 135
Nathan Hayes (Vice Chair/Rostering/Accommodation) 0415 290 634
Tim Anderson (Secretary/Rostering/Technical) 0447 813 447
Maddie Bartlett (Meals) 0497 834 716
Shabbir Parekh (Welfare) 0421 166 198
Brendan Quaife (Welfare) 0433 628 884
In addition you can contact the AFAP staff member Chris Aikens on
chris@afap.org.au. The AFAP Member Assistance Program (MAP) can be contacted via Freecall 1300 307 912.