In our two last Cockpit Flash, we informed you in detail about the takeover of TNT Express by FedEx and of its potential negative consequences on TAY jobs. Today, i.e. more than a year after the announcement of FedEx’s intentions, the situation is slowly becoming clear. Here is a short summary of very intensive months of hard work and talks with FedEx and TNT Airways management, US ALPA and our mother association, ECA.

After the announcement on 7 April 2015 of FedEx’s intention to buy TNT Express, BeCA immediately started a working group in charge of examining the possible scenarios and preparing for the worst. We already knew, as laid down in the merge protocol, that TNT Airways would be divested and that the intercontinental air cargo services would be operated by FedEx: the loss of the 3 B777s was already one of the likely scenarios.

We actively worked at several levels. At the EU level, with the help of ECA, we have taken numerous contacts with the European Commission to highlight the potential impacts on TAY jobs of such divestment. We updated our file on US cargo operations in Europe, and we started to write a new file when we gathered reasonable grounds to believe that the FedEx pilots based in CGN and working at CDG do not respect the EU regulation 465/2012 on social security systems. This file has also been discussed with our French colleagues.

At the international level, BeCA has tried many times to start a negotiation with the FedEx pilots’ representatives in order to secure both pilot communities’ interests. We unfortunately received only very disappointing feedback. ECA also put pressure on US-ALPA to ensure that US pilots won’t take advantage on the situation and jeopardise EU jobs. Their help and support have been highly valuable and we cannot thank enough our European colleagues.

At the company level, in September 2015, the decision to enforce a new CLA to protect our jobs was made with the help of our lawyer. After strong pressure from TNT pilots and intensive negotiations from the pilots union’s representatives, TNT management signed the CLA in early December 2015. This CLA ensures that all pilots’ jobs are protected! The BeCA Committee will closely monitor a strict respect of the signed CLA.

A few weeks after the signature of the CLA, FedEx announced the future loss of the 3 B777s. So far, no phase out plan of the B777 has been released. The future of the B747 and the B757 needs also to be clarified.

On 25 May 2016, TNT Airways officially became ASL Airlines Belgium. A multi-year contract (more than 5 years) has been signed with FedEx. This contract limits the type of aircraft that ASLB can use to maximum the size of the B737-800. All the other aircraft will be used on other contracts.

As a conclusion, thanks to BeCA’s intensive work and good cooperation with unions and ECA. ASLB is now a pure ACMI (Aircraft Crew Maintenance & Insurance) operator. Of course, a lot of changes, at all levels, are expected in the future in order to comply with this new business model, but we will keep you informed of any new developments. Good luck to ASLB!