AFAP AIC Update – June 2025
As outlined in recent Virgin communications, a number of important matters have been raised and progressed at the AIC level. Please find below a summary of key updates from the AFAP.
Re-Employment Policy
The AFAP raised at AIC late last year the end date of the Re-Employment Policy in April 2026. We wanted all pilots (both active and inactive) to have complete transparency well in advance of this end date.
The AIC has now clarified that the 4 April 2026 end date is the date an inactive pilot must be re-employed (in other words day 1 induction must be before 4 April 2026) to retain their GDOJ.
This will necessitate being awarded by the January import (19 January 2026) to allow time for the commencement of a role as the last induction course prior to the expiry date is scheduled for 30 March 2026. The timeline is:
- Bid import conducted 19 Jan 26.
- In accordance with the Re-Employment Policy, the Company shall publish awarded positions within 21 days of the bid import.
- Inactive Pilots will have 2 weeks to accept or decline the awarded position.
- Latest date of acceptance of an awarded position is therefore 22 Feb 26.
- This will leave insufficient time to backfill awards from the following 16 Feb 26 bid import and for pilots to commence employment prior to the expiry date.
Transition to the Hold File
Inactive pilots who have not been re-employed by 4 April 2026 will be removed from the GDOJ list. However, those bidding for 8 consecutive RPs will be added to a Hold File and offered positions ahead of other external pilots. While the Hold File order is based on GDOJ, even if a pilot is re-employed from the Hold File this will not reactivate their original GDOJ date.
Deletion of Bids – All Pilots must resubmit bids
The Re-employment Policy requires that inactive pilots must be considered as “actively participating” in the bid import process for 8 consecutive bid imports prior to the policy expiring in order to be transferred to the Hold File.
Please note to support the Hold File process ALL pilots’ bids have been deleted (not just inactive pilots). Any pilots wanting to be considered for positions must now re-bid for positions before the next import on 9 Jun 25, 0700 (AEST).
Base Balance Awards and GDOJ/CPD
The AFAP has raised questions regarding the resource plan underpinning the decision to move existing Captains between bases, as per the most recent base balances from the April and May bid import. Whilst base balancing may be appropriate in periods of stagnated or limited growth, the AFAP is seeking full transparency on the basis for conducting the recent base balances, particularly in the current environment where Virgin is coming out of a sustained period of significant growth and there is some expected growth in the next 12-months.
Our position is that base balance awards should be directly informed by the resource plan, and would generally involve the reallocation of block hours from one base to another or rectifying a base imbalance. We have sought clarification from Virgin on what specific changes have occurred to the resource plan that have driven these movements.
As pilots would be aware, where a base balance is conducted, this is done using the GDOJ of pilots in the relevant rank, and CPD is not considered. The AFAP is fully supportive of maintaining and upholding the intent of the integration model as established (including the ongoing application of the CPD where appropriate) and ensuring that future positions are not created or awarded in a manner that is potentially unfair or lacks transparency.
Virgin has made a commitment that if it intends to conduct any further base balances it will first raise this with the AIC to ensure that basis for doing so is fully understood and supported by evidence.
Infringement Payments
Pilots will have seen that communications have been issued by Virgin on the introduction of infringement payments. The AFAP wish to highlight some important points for members regarding infringement payments.
Infringement payments will be assessed at sign off from the duty prior to DDOs. Under the old draft system within 2 hours of sign-on for the first duty after DDOs, Crew Tracking could notify of a delay to sign on which may have removed the draft payment altogether. Importantly under infringement payments they are locked in at sign-off and can be tracked as discussed below.
Infringement payments triggering will be able to be tracked by pilots as the DDO will be converted to a BLANK day by Crew Tracking (Aircrews will trigger an alert as DDO hours will not be met requiring Crew Tracking intervention). The payroll script will then pick up the length of infringement for payment amount.
Pilots should then be mindful that drafting on intervening DDOs may mean the infringement payment is removed. However, if sectors are cancelled or removed by Crew Tracking on the duty following DDO/s, the infringement will remain locked in, and the pilot will have visibility within Sabre that the process has been followed with the appearance of the “INFRINGE” timings visible within Sabre.
This visibility of the BLANK day and the INFRINGE code provides pilots the ability to be able to easily determine that it has been actioned correctly by Crew Tracking.
Part Time Pilots
It is important to note that for part time pilots who extend on day of operations after Sign On to infringe an Offline Day they will be paid infringement payments as per clause 37.4. Further, in this scenario the Offline Day duty credit will remain. This does not apply when a Part Time pilot agrees to come in to work on an Offline Day.
When a part time pilot agrees to come in to work on an Offline Day, they must swap this with a future DDO to be entitled to the draft payment. If this worked day also infringes a second Offline Day, it too must be swapped with a future DDO should the pilot wish to be paid an infringement payment on that day. If it is not swapped it is treated in the same manner as a pilot working on an Offline Day and the Offline credit is removed and worked credits added.
The AFAP examples of infringement payments provided during the EA are available here.
AFAP Perth Hotel FWC Dispute Underway
The AFAP’s dispute regarding the Perth crew hotel was listed for initial conciliation before the Fair Work Commission (FWC) on 12 May 2025. A directions hearing was held last week to determine the program and structure for arbitration. The AFAP and Virgin have been invited to file written submissions on the application of the EA clauses in dispute, which then inform how the FWC assesses whether the current hotel meets the EA standard.
While the dispute is ongoing, and recognising that a final determination may take several months, the AFAP has called on Virgin to commence a new tender process for a Perth crew hotel.
When the current hotel was initially appointed, the AFAP did not endorse it. The Hilton Hotel, which was approved during the original tender, withdrew from the process post-selection. Virgin then appointed the Mercure on a short-term basis, with a clause enabling early termination of the agreement if required.
At the time of writing, despite hundreds of pilot reports raising concerns, Virgin has not agreed to re-tender. Should a new hotel be sourced that meets the EA standard, the AFAP would be prepared to discontinue our dispute.
Fatigue Credits
The AIC has been monitoring the number of pilot fatigue removals and application of FATP for personal fatigue. Over the past several months only a very minimal number of personal fatigue assessments have been made by Virgin. We are pleased with the operation of this system in practice so far, which as pilots will recall was negotiated by the AFAP in the new EA as an Australian industry first, based on USALPA systems in airlines such as Delta.
The AFAP have assisted one member in reviewing their personal fatigue assessment and having it reverted to operational fatigue. As part of this process, the AFAP Safety and Technical team presented a position supporting the member backed by fatigue science. Virgin in accepting our feedback has positively demonstrated its commitment to a science-based approach to assessing fatigue removals.
The AFAP can provide members Safety and Technical assistance regarding fatigue removals by contacting technical@afap.org.au. Please include a copy of your fatigue report and other relevant information (such as correspondence from Virgin).
QAR Secondments
Virgin has confirmed that 23 pilots who participated in the Qatar Airways Secondment Recruitment Process have been formally notified that they will be offered secondment opportunities.
These pilots are scheduled to begin transitioning to Doha to commence their secondments in two tranches in August and September. At this time Virgin has advised they do not expect any requirements to backfill these positions. We extend our congratulations to those selected and wish them every success during their time in Doha.
Pay Audit
As outlined in a recent VPF forum post, the AFAP is currently collecting data from members on payroll discrepancies that have required follow-up with Virgin, to assess whether a broader pay audit may be warranted.
From the small number of cases reported to date, a common thread has emerged: discrepancies appear to be directly linked to an incorrect rostering code or block window not being manually applied by crewing, as opposed to an error with the pay script or a systematic payroll error. In each case, members confirmed that the discrepancy had been addressed.
The AFAP has asked Virgin to provide data analysis on the pay/credit enquiries received via the Credit Summary Queries email address. This would be a practical first step to identifying any patterns in pay discrepancies. Virgin is open to this, but noted that the majority of enquiries to date have revealed correct payments, with issues arising from misunderstandings of EA provisions rather than errors.
We have also proposed that manual block windows, which capture draft payments or minimum credits (such as the minimum 4 hours for SBY and DSBY) be clearly visible on rosters. This would help pilots verify that the relevant draft payments or minimum credits have been captured and can be matched against their Roster Credit Summary (RCS) and payslip.
Roster Credit Summary (RCS) and Pay slip discrepancies
The AFAP has raised concerns regarding inconsistencies between a pilot’s Roster Credit Summary (RCS) and their payslip, in circumstances where an issue with an RCS has been identified and addressed prior to payroll processing. At present, the RCS is not updated post-correction, which means it may no longer align with the actual payments shown on the payslip, causing confusion for pilots who rely on the RCS to verify pay accuracy.
We have requested that the RCS be updated following any manual corrections; however, Virgin has advised this is not currently possible. In lieu of this, the AFAP has proposed that pilots should at minimum receive a notification when a manual correction has been made to their RCS, so they are aware of the discrepancy.
Virgin has committed to investigating the process and workload involved in issuing such notifications to individual pilots.
Importantly, Virgin confirmed that the payslip is the definitive record of what has been paid, and should show any applicable overtime and day off payments which can be verified against the pilot’s actual roster to identify any issues.
Questions
Should you have any questions regarding the above, please feel free to contact your AFAP AIC representatives directly, or AFAP legal industrial team of Senior Legal/ Industrial Officer Patrick Larkins (patrick@afap.org.au) or AFAP Senior Legal/ Industrial Officer Deanna Cain (deanna@afap.org.au) at the AFAP dedicated AIC email address virginaic@afap.org.au, or alternatively by posting on the VPF Forum (https://afapvpf.discussioncommunity.com/) or by calling the AFAP office on (03) 9928 5737.
AFAP AIC Representatives
First Officer Steve Hungerford - Chair
Captain Brad Wilson - Vice-Chair
Captain Mark Bannister - HOTAC