Pilot Support Programmes

On a very positive note, we are proud to inform you that ASLB

is probably the airline that is most advanced in terms of setting up a Pilot Support Programme in Belgium! As you probably know, EASA has made it compulsory as of 14 August 2020 for each European airline to ensure their pilots access to a pilot support programme in case they face any kind of mental health issue or addiction problem. BeCA representatives, union delegates and management have worked hand in hand in order to come up with a sound and reliable system. We all met Stiftung Mayday, one of the main independent healthcare organisation providing Pilot Support in Europe, and we are now convinced that it is the way to go. A lot is still on our plate to make this system a reality, but we are progressing well.

ACMI

Our management recently announced that TNT Airways > ASLB transition period was over from a financial point of view. Indeed TNT Airways used to invoice all the costs of the European air network to TNT Express since its creation in 1999. The same principle has been applied since TNT Airways was bought by the ASL group back in 2016. This transition period being ended ASLB is now an fully independent ACMI (Aircraft Crew Maintenance Insurance) service provider that has its faith in its own hands. It is on this new basis that ASLB has recently signed an addendum to its contract with FedEx securing the work for a minimum of 29 B737s.

Per diems

In July 2018 the tax administration adopted a new taxation ruling which revoked the legacy Per diem system retrospectively back in January 2017. After nearly three years of negotiations, an agreement was signed between unions and management on how this issue will be dealt fairly. A tremendous amount of energy has been used from both sides but the end result is satisfactory. This agreement is valid until the end of the fiscal ruling (5y from 2017). In the meantime BATA and unions are negotiating a royal decree (see article above for more details) at CP315.02 level in order to harmonise the industry practices. Initially out of the discussion, ASLB management could finally join the negotiations thanks to BeCA who’s played a key role sharing the information across Belgian Airlines. ASLB management could therefore add cargo business model specifications into the royal decree that was irrelevant in its first draft as it was essentially focused on the passenger airlines business model.