Dear members,

We would like to keep you up to date with the many current developments in the corona crisis. We send you this Waypoints special edition in order to ensure consistent information for everyone. Depending on the situation and information needs, we will continue to send out special issues in the future.


Some of our topics in this newsletter:

  • Uwe Harter elected Executive Vice-President of IFALPA
  • Negotiations in a difficult situation - Markus Wahl in an interview with the ULA magazine
  • What Politics does - und what it does not do
  • State of Hesse issues general decree on freedom of movement for cargo pilots
  • Advice on corona risk minimization for flight crews
  • "Severe Turbulence Ahead" - IFALPA Special Meeting

 
We wish you an interesting read.
Stay well!
 
With best regards,
Markus Wahl, VC Board and Team

Uwe Harter elected Executive Vice-President of IFALPA

VC board member Uwe Harter was elected Executive Vice-President yesterday at the annual meeting of the world pilot association IFALPA. He will be responsible for the area of Technical & Safety Standards (TSS) and will represent IFALPA at international level vis-à-vis institutions such as ICAO.

In his function as VC board member for international relations, Uwe has been in close contact with IFALPA for a long time. He is an A380 captain with Lufthansa and is based in Munich.

Good luck in your new position and all the best, Uwe!

VC summer party is cancelled

The board has decided to cancel our summer party this year. Due to the ongoing corona crisis, it was and is unfortunately not to be expected that the party could have taken place as planned, so a cancellation became inevitable.

VC press releases

Press release 2 April: Lufthansa Executive Board appears unfocused and overwhelmed

VC urges Lufthansa Group Executive Board to sign the collective agreement for Germanwings.

Press release 2 April: VC demands comprehensive legal security for pilots on international missions

No quarantine measures for pilots and international recognition of unscheduled extensions of validity of licences.

Press release 1 April: Pilots at Lufthansa, Germanwings and Lufthansa Aviation Training agree to short-time working

Pilots make a substantial contribution to improving the liquidity of the Lufthansa Group in the crisis / Reduction of cockpit costs by almost 50%.

"An unprecedented situation"

In an interview with the magazine of the United Leaders Association (ULA), VC President Markus Wahl reports on one of the biggest challenges in the corona crisis: "Collective bargaining on short-time work compensation must be conducted with all airlines that employ staff in Germany at the same time - an unprecedented situation."

Striking the right balance between speed and accuracy involves a lot of work for VC: "Of course, the necessary negotiations with employers, for example on the short-time working allowance, are much more difficult via video conference than in a face-to-face situation".

In addition, Markus advocates increases in short-time work benefits and regular evaluation of corona-related measures: "It is important to provide each restriction with an expiration or review date, otherwise it will be extremely difficult to come to the decision to resume air traffic".

You can read the whole interview (in German) in the ULA magazine starting on page 6.

What politics does - and does not do

We continue to exchange information with the ministries relevant to us. Apart from economic and trade union issues, there was a lot to do this week to maintain freedom to travel and to commute for crews. If all travel restrictions and work bans had continued as they were at the beginning of the week, it would no longer have been possible to maintain cargo flights. Especially the State of Hesse (see below) has caused a lot of uncertainty here. Fortunately, a solution seems to have been found.

In short: What is politics doing? Everything possible to maintain supplies despite federal structures. What is it not (yet) doing? Set up the processes between the federal and state governments in such a way that this federalism does not create any new problems from the era of small states time and time again.

State of Hesse issues General Decree on freedom of movement for cargo pilots

The State of Hesse has issued a general decree to improve the freedom of movement of cargo pilots when commuting to work. It applies to all pilots of cargo airlines and to pilots flying cargo on passenger planes.

This means that colleagues who live outside the State of Hesse or even outside Germany can expect to be able to get to their duty in Frankfurt without any problems in the future. The decree applies to all risk areas defined by the Robert Koch Institute. The exact regulations and requirements are expected to be published shortly.

Minimizing health risks

ECA and EASA have published new comprehensive collections of information on protection against the virus, behaviour on board and how to deal with infected and suspected cases:

European associations appeal to EU institutions and member states

The ECA, together with several European associations, all represented in the sectoral social dialogue for civil aviation, has launched an appeal to the EU institutions and Member States. Under the title "Effects of COVID-19 and Need for Action in European Aviation" the signatories call 

  • to enforce the EASA information bulletins and safety directives as well as establish further coordinated hygienic protocols
  • to enable connectivity and use travel bans only as a last resort
  • to promote economic measures including state aid to retain the integrity of the sector, protect the workers from unemployment and loss of income and abolish taxes to aid the sector’s future recovery
  • to support the relaxation of the slot allocation rules
  • to reaffirm the key role of social dialogue at European, national and company level

    "Severe Turbulence Ahead" - IFALPA Special Meeting

    The corona crisis hits like a severe thunderstorm and dominates almost all headlines. At the IFALPA Special Conference on 2 and 3 April - held via video conference - it was generally agreed that despite the difficult situation, flying will pick up again after the corona lockdown. IFALPA consultant Ana Mac Aron Schulz warned of a deep recession and slow climb rates after the crisis, but also emphasised that the associations must now work closely with governments, authorities and employers.

    Above all, it is key to now make use of the available options for the benefit of pilots. Fundamental decisions which will have an impact on aviation for a long time to come will be taken in the coming weeks. Bryan Shury, IFALPA Executive Vice President Professional and Government Affairs, summed up the need to act now in a Churchill quote:

    "Never waste a good crisis".

     

    IFALPA President Jack Netskar emphasized in his State of the Federation address that there are many other issues besides Codvid-19 that must stay on our radar: "That will haunt us if we don't address them now." Above all, he was talking about flight safety, which needs to stay in the focus during and after the pandemic.

     

    The IFALPA president also confirmed that market pressure is increasing: "Globalisation continues to challenge pilots' working conditions, economically and socially." However, the focus in aviation must not be shifted to the economic side, either by corona or by globalization and market pressure. As pilots, we have learned to analyse critical situations, find solutions and then solve problems, says Jack Netskar. So, we will also master this situation and get the corona crisis under control.

     

    Another positive thing was the joint greeting to all colleagues and friends & family, who are sick somewhere in the world at the moment: Get Well Soon!

    Information on continued, reduced and resumed flight operations

    The Flight Safety Foundation has compiled information for anyone with questions about technical, operational and regulatory aspects of reduced or suspended airline operations. The 25-page document entitled "Pandemic: Non-Medical Operational Safety Aspects, Supplemental Materials" contains information on the impact of the pandemic on commercial aviation.

    Various safety aspects from Flight Operations to ATS and Maintenance are discussed in the three sections Continuation, Reduction/Suspension and Resumption of Flight Operations. The contents are primarily aimed at flight safety and operations personnel.

    More News

     VC

    • The latest information and sources of information on the coronavirus on the VC website.


     ECA


    From the EASA Corona Information Hub

    Postpone your trip!

    The German Travel Association (DRV) has launched the campaign "Wer reisen liebt, verschiebt!" (meaning: Those who love to travel, postpone!) calling on customers to "only" postpone their trip. The association wants to achieve that as few trips as possible are completely cancelled. This is intended to maintain financial flexibility for companies and ensure their survival. Users of social media are called upon to share images and support the campaign by using the hashtag

    #VerschiebDeineReise

    Of course, there is also a suitable motif for aviation, which you can download here. Suitable resolutions for different channels of all motifs of the campaign can be obtained directly from the DRV.

    Keep your spirits up

    The corona crisis has hit most of us hard, but even in bad times there is still something to laugh about. Home office, for example, is a new mode of work that has not yet been able to flourish among flying personnel. There are certainly possibilities to combine the pilot's job with the living room at home. Sometimes it doesn't take much more than a vacuum cleaner, a waste bin and a little bit of imagination.

    Here is our small video selection:

    As we continuously strive to improve our newsletter we require and seek your feedback. Please forward your inputs to presse@vcockpit.de or use the reply function of your mail provider should you have any suggestions for improvement, tips, or wishes regarding topics to address. We will do our best to keep our newsletter as informative and interesting as possible.