Japan Press Weekly

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2016 October 19 - 25 [LABOR]

JAL pilots strongly oppose proposed extension of flight hours

National flag-carrier Japan Airlines (JAL) this summer proposed that the upper limit of hours of pilots’ flight duty be increased to 80h/mo and 960hr/yr from the present 75hr/mo and 900hr/yr as a measure to tackle the manpower shortage. To this proposal, most of the JAL pilots have been screaming out, “Impossible to go on at this rate!”

The 960 hours per year correspond only to flight hours, excluding the time needed to come in and out of an apron and the time needed for ground duties such as briefings before and after a flight (about two hours for domestic routes and over 2.5 hours for international routes).

The company has been posting operating profits exceeding 150 billion yen for five consecutive years. In March this year, it made an all-time high profit of 209.1 billion yen. On the other hand, it has been facing a severe shortage of pilots.

According to JAL, the number of its pilots is 1,913 as of the end of the last business year. Already more than 180 pilots have, however, given up and quit the company since it forcibly dismissed 81 veteran captains in late 2010.

JAL always tries to keep to a minimum the number of pilots on board. It does not allow a replacement crew even for long flights, for example, the flight to Vancouver. As for domestic lines, JAL has its pilots repeat flights several times a day.

Regarding the 960hr/yr proposal, the JAL Flight Crew Union (FCU) and the JAL Captain Association urgently surveyed JAL pilots. As a result, only 6% of them stated that they can accept the proposal.

A Boeing 737 captain said, “In the near future, many crewmembers will suffer from health effects. This will mean the collapse of the company.” A Boeing 787 copilot said, “I flew 898 hours in a year. It was so hard that I just cannot imagine flying 960 hours.”

The FCU calls on JAL to reinstate the discharged 81 pilots and 84 cabin attendants and solve the ongoing understaffing problem in order to ensure aviation safety.

Past related articles:
> International pilots group calls for JAL dismissals to be settled [October 24, 2013]
> Pilots' association protests against JAL's forced dismissals [January 14, 2011]
> JAL’s forcible dismissal violates ILO conventions [December 11 & 14, 2010]
> JAL forces pilots to retire by sending them blank schedules [October 21, 2010]