2026 Q1 Newsletter – Scheduling Committee Update

/by

Scheduling Committee Update

Something we contend with month to month is the company’s published projections on the number of Pure Lines, Composite, and Reserve Lines. This is a best guess, “good faith” estimate of what the company is predicting when the bid lines are awarded. Occasionally, the actual results can vary quite a bit from the published projections, but is CBA compliant.

Make sure when you bid, you bid your line preference in the order you wish it to be awarded. We have seen issues where pilots did not want a high PCH line and would have preferred reserve. Keep in mind, it’s virtually guaranteed in high fly months, most of the awarded lines will be high PCH and built to the higher end of the PCH window.

I would also make sure you bid enough trips to ensure you meet the published PCH values. Every month we see pilots that have failed to bid enough trips and get forced into a composite line or reserve by fractions of an hour. One method you can use is the “No Pref” option and the solver will use the low PCH bid window and the high PCH window allowing more flexibility. Sorting trips by PCH vs. show time, for example, would have also helped some pilots get lines over past months.

As many of you have noticed by now, the company is constructing more multi day pairings. Currently the company has stated there is no intention of moving away from our out-and-back model but some of our bases had a significant percentage of multi-day trips. The reason for most of these pairings is to cover transition training in other bases. I would expect this to continue for some time.

We are also working alongside the company to bring CAE’s replacement for Merlot crew scheduling software online. More to come on this in the future.

Lastly, we’re looking for a few more volunteers to join the scheduling committee. Ideally we are seeking West coast pilots. Knowledge of section 15, NavBlue, and Excel are desired. Please send us an email if interested.

Fly safe!
Scheduling Committee
Scheduling@apa2118.org