And here we go again… Almost two weeks after the ‘problem’ initially arose; the LCC is faced with it again. This time however, the general public is fully aware that it’s not simply a ‘software glitch combined with the season’s high demand’, but a full-scale, previously announced strike – and one which can be avoided.
The strike will be held by both, cockpit and cabin crew members. According to the “Sindicato dos Aeronautas” (SNA), the pilots and flight attendants local union, Gol crew members are demanding:
a) A full health insurance program;
b) A pension plan;
c) Gol is to fully comply with the professional regulatory act established in Brazil (meaning, pilots and flight attendants shouldn’t exceed the permitted flying hours per month);
d) A just and humane duty roster;
e) Pay increase by roughly 27%.
The airline is expected to make a decision, whether or not to accept the demands by Friday August 20th.
It is important to point out that right now a state of strike already exists and should demands not be accepted – or at least a counter-proposal be made – by next Friday, pilots and flight attendants will call for a strike some 72hs later. This strike is expected to affect 30% of the carrier’s flights, as stipulated by law.
On a side note, the timing for these strikes couldn’t be worse for Gol (or better for their crew members if you will): the airline has just announced a second-quarter loss of USD 29,7 million; the first ‘stealth strike’ scathed the airlines image and cost them dearly (public image, revenue loss, compensation costs, a hefty fine, the loss of corporate contracts, etc.); its fierce competitor, TAM, announced the intention to join forces with LAN and merge thereby creating on the world’s largest airline groups… In light of what we just outlined here, it is imperative that Gol makes the threat of a public strike – which, undoubtedly, could cripple them much worse than they could possibly imagine – ‘go away’. And they need to do it quickly and quietly.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Gol’s “mad dog August”
Yesterday (August 2nd. 2010) Brazil’s pioneer low-cost/no frills carrier Gol suffered a heavy blow: approximately 12,5% of all their flights had to be cancelled and another 50% suffered delays. In other words, Gol cancelled more than 100 flights and had to delay another 410 (roughly)… That’s a major disaster given that Gol is the country’s second largest airline and holds a domestic market share of about 39% (as per ANAC’s June 2010 traffic statistics).
In an official (revised) statement, Gol said that the delays and cancellations are but a reflection of the problems the carrier suffered last Friday (July 30th. 2010) when, as Gol claims, the airline had to transfer some of its operations from Congonhas (São Paulo’s city airport) to Guarulhos (São Paulo’s international airport) because the first airport closes at 11PM. According to Gol this “transfer” was the result of the increased demand of July’s last weekend (note: the last weekend of July marked the end of the winter vacation season in Brazil) and that as a result of this increased demand, several crew had reached the limit of flying hours permitted by law. In addition to that, Gol’s original statement, said that the carrier had implemented a brand new planning schedule software for the crew duty roster which malfunctioned.
We can all agree that complications can arise in a situation of increased demand; however, it is an airline’s job to foresee such complications and act accordingly. And let’s not forget: Gol is no “newcomer”, quite the opposite, the carrier will hit the 10-year mark next January and has already established itself as fully grown and experienced network carrier with a domestic market share of about 39%, only 3 percentage points behind TAM. With that said one can only conclude that the current problem, according to Gol’s own statement, can only have originated due to a) the planning of a completely incorrect crew duty roster or b) Gol has less crew than it needs to given their current fleet/network. And we haven’t even said anything about Congonhas’ 11PM restriction, which is anything but new to all airlines flying into/out of the São Paulo’s city airport…
Gol’s “official version” might sound plausible to the ‘untrained eye’, but for those working in the airline industry, the story has too many gaps. For starters, why did Gol take out the Congonhas’ 11PM traffic restriction out of their official statement? Probably because everybody knows this is a lame excuse and that this very same restriction also affects TAM – and they suffered no such problems what so ever… And why did Gol "remove" the problem of the new software responsible for the crew duty roster planning from their revised statement? Maybe because there never was any such problem?
The ‘real’ story, which makes more sense and explains why Gol experienced such a terrible day, is somewhat different. Yes, Gol had several crews’ which exceeded the flying time of their duty roster allowed by law. That part of Gol’s statement was spot on. But the LCC’s statement failed to mention that it forced, according to the “Sindicato Nacional dos Aeronautas” (SNA – Brazil’s version of the airmen labor union), both pilots and flight attendants to work double shifts and fly longer than is permitted by law. The SNA claims to have received several ca. 1000 individual complaints from crewmembers of Brazil’s major airlines (TAM, Gol, Webjet and Azul), 60% of which came from Gol crewmembers! Additionally, yesterday rumors arose that Gol’s pilots were already summoning a general strike – unofficially scheduled for August 13th. Local newspapers and news agencies interviewed pilots who said the strike was called upon, initially, by co-pilots, who demand a more “humane duty roster” and a salary increase of up to 25%. It is expected that both captains as well as flight attendants join co-pilots in their strike if Gol takes no action to improve working conditions.
The first indicators show that Gol’s “mad dog” August will continue today (August 3rd. 2010). According to INFRAERO, out of 321 scheduled flights between midnight and 11AM (domestic and international), the airline has cancelled 27 (8,4%) and another 105 are already delayed (32,7%). Furthermore, reports coming from various sources claim that the situation has already gotten out of control and what was simply a problem of lacking crew to cover all flights has now become a “stealh strike” with several crew members “calling in sick”…
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