United Airlines Pilot Scope Comparison –
By Gordon Werner of “Flickr”
I take the following Scope policy’s breakdown’s from this website.
I figure the best way to really compare these different policy’s is to apply each different policy to American’s situation, and see how the pieces fall. In other words see what the effect over time is on Regional Scope. I plan on doing this with United and Delta in the next couple of days. The following two sections describe this comparison.
Table Comparison
United Airlines (Based on Stagnant fleet numbers) – Takes Uniteds current fleet breakdown and apply’s Americans, Deltas, and Uniteds TA policy. Allow’s a comparison of policys.
- Current Mainline fleet (703)
- Current Mainline Narrow-Body fleet (548)
- Current Regional fleet (618)
| Date of signing | American’s Policy | Delta’s Policy | United Policy | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Fleet Limit for Regionals | 356 | Unlimited | 748 | |
| Total # of 66-76 Aircraft | 137 | Total # of 71-76 Seat Aircraft | 120 | 130 |
| Total # of 30-65 Seat Regional Aircraft | 219 | Total # of 51-76 Seat Aircraft | 255 | 255 |
| Total # of 37-50 Seat Regional Aircraft | Unlimited | 493 | ||
| January 2014 | ||||
| Scope Ratchets down to this with new NB | ||||
| Total Fleet Limit for Regionals | 356 | 450 | 748 | |
| Total # of 66-76 Aircraft | 137 | Total # of 71-76 Seat Aircraft | 223 | 130 |
| Total # of 30-65 Seat Regional Aircraft | 219 | Total # of 51-76 Seat Aircraft | 325 | 255 |
| Total # of 37-50 Seat Regional Aircraft | 125 | 493 | ||
| January 2015 | ||||
| Total Fleet Limit for Regionals | 356 | 450 | 748 | |
| Total # of 66-76 Aircraft | 164 | Total # of 71-76 Seat Aircraft | 223 | 130 |
| Total # of 30-65 Seat Regional Aircraft | 192 | Total # of 51-76 Seat Aircraft | 325 | 255 |
| Total # of 37-50 Seat Regional Aircraft | 125 | 493 | ||
| January 2016 | ||||
| Total Fleet Limit for Regionals | 356 | 450 | 748 | |
| Total # of 66-76 Aircraft | 219 | Total # of 71-76 Seat Aircraft | 223 | 153 |
| Total # of 30-65 Seat Regional Aircraft | 137 | Total # of 51-76 Seat Aircraft | 325 | 255 |
| Total # of 37-50 Seat Regional Aircraft | 125 | 493 |
Fleet Growth/Stagnant/Shrinkage Scenarios
The following graphs reflect what the Total Regional numbers would look like with the three respective policy’s, applied to three different fleet growth models. The above table is only the Stagnant fleet growth model, the following charts show all three.
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The following are non charted scope elements.
Furlough Protection:
- American’s Protection lies with the 7300 pilot floor that must be on the seniority list or the whole Scope contract could be voided.
- Delta’s Furlough protection requires removal of 6 seats from the 76 seat jets in the event the current most junior pilot is furloughed. This is the same as United’s.
Block Hour Restrictions
Even though at first glance the United Policy looks much weaker than its peers, it should be noted that the 120% block hour restriction would come into effect fairly quickly as United continued to grow their regional networks. That fact is not represented in the charts, however you can estimate a fleet capable of 120% of Mainline block hours to be fairly large. At that point instead of seeing Regional fleet growth climb to over 700 aircraft it would cap it at 120% of Mainline block hours. More likely it would hold current regional fleet size’s about the same at just above 600 aircraft.
- American only allows up to 1.25% of block hours to be flown as Regional’s between hubs.
- United’s as of Date of Signing is 120% of Mainline, if they get a narrow body after 2016 they see similar reductions as Delta.
- Delta is non existent until 153 (76) seat jets are exceeded, but then ratchet down to Mainline flying 156% of Regional hours..
