Sir - Ivor Bennett has got the wrong end of the stick in his letter "Inconsistency in BALPA policy" (Flight International, Letters, 22-28 November 1995, P68). The facts are as follows.
Early in 1995, British Airways proposed the introduction of "cadet cruise-only" pilots, on to the Boeing 747-400 fleet. This was not acceptable to the British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) for three reasons:
it would lower standards and contravene the policy of the International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Association;
it would have a detrimental effect on earnings and aspirations within the current BA co-pilot community;
it would not be in the best interests of the cadets, many of whom had spent several years without touching the controls of an aircraft.
BA dropped its proposal, in exchange for co-operation in dealing with a short-term establishment problem, exacerbated by the need to place the 747-400 cadets on to other fleets.
As a result, there are insufficient resources in this training year, particularly on the Boeing 737, but BALPA has negotiated to increase the commitment from the trainers on the 737 and is increasing the establishment. In main-line BA, retired pilots have been re-hired as co-pilots for six months and BA EuroGatwick is using 30 USAir pilots with recent 737 experience. This will allow 30 co-pilots in EuroGatwick to attend command courses. BA will train cadets to replace the USAir co-pilots. BA is prevented from recruiting pilots directly because of the legal settlement reached in the ex-Dan-Air pilot case, which the Independent Pilot Association supported.
Apart from the Brymon Link Scheme pilots, cadets and BA retire/re-hires, BA must offer employment contracts to suitable ex-Dan-Air pilots before any others. The legal advice is that this does not apply to USAir pilots, as they are not being employed by BA. The company argues that it is using a surplus in one part of its Global Alliance in another where there is a shortage. These pilots continue to be employed by USAir.
BA is now to interview ex-Dan-Air pilots and will assess them against its selection criteria. Those who are successful will not be available for line flying until they have undertaken the necessary training - too late to meet the immediate requirement for this training year.
In the coming year, 140 permanent direct-entry pilot places will be created. These will be extended beyond the ex-Dan-Air community once BA has established how many of them meet the selection criteria.
Given legal advice, there is no acceptable alternative to our agreement with BA to solve the EuroGatwick problem. Without it, BA would have sought to fly by transferring routes to other carriers in the Global Alliance, such as TAT and Deutsche BA. This would have been permanent, reducing the number of direct-entry pilots to below 140 and preventing the 30 command courses.
CHRIS DARKE
General Secretary
BALPA
Hayes, Middlesex, UK
Source: Flight International
